Twenty four hours.
It wasn't really too long in the grand scheme of things, but so much can easily happen within that twenty four hours. In this case, the Everstorm and its effects were as immediate as they were severe. It was incredible to think though, that the sun and moon were still on their schedules without the aid of the magic of Celestia and Luna. That was probably a good thing, since leaving the moon and sun up side by side for who knows how long would probably be havoc on the world below. Not that they haven't suffered their losses already though. With all Gems out of commission on Earth and Equus, all magical ties useless and de-powered, and some temporarily dead from this sudden shift even, one cannot deny that both worlds had a strong backtrack in all of this. Equestria (for the first time since the worlds connected now that one would think about it) is suffering even more so. Earth had a bit more trouble than Equestria since it was not used to magic yet, but with the coin flipped, Equestria had to figure out how to be like Earth … at least until the Everstorm's fallout phase ends.
Of course, if their adventures before had taught them anything, it's that a lot could happen in a week or two.
*BONK!* "OW!"
And for one unicorn it was immediate the second she walked into the door, thinking her magic just opened the door for her. Unicorns and Alicorns would be the first to feel the sting of this effect, being a lot more used to magic than any other race. Just walking out of her boutique was a little less than impressive, and the unicorn also didn't look her best either. How can anypony look their best with their brush stuck in her tail? The miserable Unicorn had to cover up with a hoodie just so nopony would recognize her going through … and she wished she could say it was the first time she did this.
Still, she went right over to her friends (Mane Six, Starlight and Trixie, Connie, Steven, Sadie, and Sniper), which at the time were waiting for the morning just by the edge of town, by the Ponyville pond. It was some distraction from what was going on and, in an ironic way, the skies looked beautiful to watch. Even during the day, the sparkling stars were still evident, giving them plenty to look at.
"Don't tell me, you had a rough morning too?" Starlight asked, as Rarity came in.
"It's horrible!" Rarity said, dramatic mode activated, "I had to use my own hooves to brush my tail!"
and she tossed off the robe to cloak to show what she was talking about, her tail left in a fangled mess with the brush, again, still in there. To say that it was a bad thing would be an understatement for the unicorn. Steven went over and just managed to get the brush out without pulling out … too much mane.
"So magic is officially gone now," Steven said, picking himself off the ground with brush in hand. Rarity went for the brush, but she needed a few second of intense staring to remind herself her horn was not working, so she just picked it up with her mouth instead.
"And yet somehow the sun and moon are still moving? I thought you kept saying Celestia and Luna moved them," Sadie then asked, looking to the sun for a brief moment.
"Celestia had to use a permanent spell on them so they'll move on their own from now on," explained Spike. Nearby Twilight sighed and looked off to the pond.
"Poor Celestia. It's so noble of her to give such a sacrifice like that to help everyone in Equestria," Twilight said. The very idea that Celestia would go this far for the sake of her land, it was an admirable move to say the least. But Steven and Connie both, according to their own experience in the past, did find that concept slightly a double-edged sword.
"Noble? I don't know about that one. Giving up your talent so fast might not be the best decision ever," Steven admitted, remembering his own experience on sacrificing for the "greater good".
"I know, but she was trying to protect everyone. A princess ready to throw what she had for her people."
"You mean like I did before, that made Connie very mad at me, and break her arm?" Steven pointed out. Twilight stopped herself.
"... Uhhh … no?"
"You were her student, Twilight. I think you might be bias," Starlight bluntly pointed out.
"Fare enough," Twilight admitted. It was kind of hard to ever say any of the princesses were "wrong" in anything, and being one of their students made that even harder for Twilight. As they were taking time to relax, one more pony finally arrived, albeit a little late. Fluttershy too had a bit of a rough morning, her mane slightly messy for trying to handle her animals.
"You okay, Fluttershy?" Sadie asked.
"Yeah. Just a tough morning at the cottage," Fluttershy replied, sitting down. She began hearing some birds talking up in the trees. Normally, Fluttershy would hear some sort of chit-chat between them in some way she could understand, but now it was just some tweets and chirps only birds understand.
"I just wish it would end soon," Fluttershy said, "It's much harder taking care of my animal friends when I can't understand any of them."
"I think you got it off easy, Fluttershy," Twilight said, "After so many years of using magic for, well, everything, it's kind of hard to operate now."
"Seriously. She got her horn stuck in the door this morning trying to open it," Spike said. This made Twilight blush.
"Ok, some things I didn't want the group to know," Twilight said.
"Oh. Oops. Sorry."
"Kind of funny though," Pinkie said, scratching her head, "They call it an Everstorm, but it's not storming or anything. In fact, it looks kind of pretty up there, Luna's stars are all front and center."
"I think the actual "storm" in Everstorm doesn't start until the surge happens … when did they say that will be?" Trixie asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Sniper admitted. The exact details of this were a bit vague anyway, so simply asking for a straight answer was not gonna be easy. Perhaps this was one of those things when they'll just know when it'll happen. Whenever that may be. But with Fluttershy's arrival, something else was also amidst, especially when Fluttershy's long mane began to move.
"We just have to watch out for anything suspicious," Sadie said.
"Uh, Fluttershy? Something in your mane?" Sniper asked. Fluttershy glanced to the end curl in her mane, finding the same round bulge moving about. Soon, the reason for her rough morning popped out for them all to see. The little creature was about the size of a mouse, literally looking like just a little ball of fluff with two sets of bug wings, big round eyes, and four stubby legs. The thing was though as there was only about five to seven huddled together, they didn't look their best.
"Suspicious!" shouted Pinkie.
"Fluttershy, what're you doing with those? Those are Parasprites!" Twilight asked urgently.
"You mean Parasite, Twilight?" corrected Sadie.
"No, Parasprite. It's … huh, the same thing but with wings," Trixie realized.
"I know they are, but look at them. They came by just before the fallout, and one's even got a broken wing," Fluttershy said, as they even saw the one there with a wing broken, a good sized cut in it. That one couldn't fly properly if it wanted to, and its buddies weren't leaving it alone.
"Aww, it looks so cute," Connie said, bringing out her finger to the small creature. The Parasprite crawled onto her finger, giving off a sort of cute cooing noise, kind of like a bird. Even if these creatures could demolish an entire crop field if they wanted to, they couldn't deny that they just looked adorable. Twilight tried to move the animal away, her head being thrown back but again, no magic. And it made her look dumb trying.
"How long have you lot had magic again?" Sniper HAD to ask.
"Twilight, look at him. He's hurt, and his wing's broken. Even if the Parasprites infested Ponyville, we can still try and make sure he's okay," Steven said, gently petting the cute little Parasprite on the head with his finger. It wouldn't be fare for them to leave the little guy out in the wild by himself with his wing messed up.
"I guess so," Twilight sighed.
*thud*
And at the very moment she finished, something did indeed suspiciously land off nearby. The parasprites hidden in Fluttershy's fur was actually cowering in sight of this odd creature, not wanting to come any closer to it. The whole group went over towards Ponyville, seeing that the animal had landed on top of one of Ponyville's water barrels, and already it was munching on the sides of the wooden object. The ponies seen appetites like this with parasprites already, but this creature was no parasprite … sort of. It had some similar features to a parasprite, including similar colors. But this creature was as big as a cat, and segmented into at least three parts compared to Parasprite's single round body. It also had a set of pincers that made short work of the wood, grinding and munching it to nothing but sawdust.
"That's even more suspicious!" Steven declared, pointing right at the creature. Sniper moved in closely to the odd animal, though it was too focused on eating to really care. Once the strange thing finished the barrel off, it opened up butterfly-like wings, and flew off to the nearest building, munching a bit off of that.
"Any of you got any ideas?" Sniper asked, never seeing such an odd animal before. Fluttershy and Starlight went over to see the creature.
"I'm not sure. It looks like a Parasprite, but …" Starlight tried to think but neither she, nor Fluttershy really have much clue on this one. If anything, it looked either like a mutated Parasprite, or some subspecies of such.
"I don't know. You don't think this is from that "magic surge" do you?" Fluttershy asked.
"The fallout just started, it can't be," retorted Rarity replied. If this was some parasprite of sorts, then they had to remove it right away. Magic or not, a single Parasprite could really cause a lot of trouble, much of them remembering their own experience with such a creature before. A bit odd though that the actual parasprites were scared of this creature, actually flying off of Fluttershy, and hiding in Connie's hair instead. They weren't going near the animal that was for sure.
"NOPE, not today, parasprite look-alike! Bring on the band!" Pinkie said, galloping off for a brief moment. She knew this day would come. It took a few minutes before Pinkie Pie came back, looking like a one-mare band: harmonica and trombone up front, symbols on her front hooves, maracas on her flank, and even an accordion on her back.
"Follow me, sprite-e!" Pinkie Pie said, and immediately she began to play, trotting in place. she actually got some good music going, which actually got the attention of this mutated parasprite. The normal parasprite nodded to the music, enjoying the beat, and they began to follow Pinkie Pie as she began trotting away.
"Pinkie, it's not luring!" shouted Steven. Pinkie got a good twenty feet before she realized that the method didn't seem to work, as the bug was more interested in the building than the mare. Pinkie strung the banjo, looking deeply suspicious.
"So, party-time's not luring enough for you? Well how about some TURBO?!" Pinkie kicked it into overdrive, playing all instruments in rapid fire action. Now the play was less entertaining and more loud, the parasprites getting spooked again as much of them covered their ears. NOW did the other parasprite flew towards her … and proceeded to eat the instruments. Pinkie yelped and tried getting the thing off, and all that remained was just the straps themselves.
"I PAID FIFTY BITS FOR THAT TROMBONE!" Pinkie snapped. The mutated insect just flew away after that, spitting the mouth piece at Pinkie's head. Guess the typical, and perhaps only method to get rid of the bug was NOT going to work this time. But they had WAY more to worry about, Sniper beginning to feel … something. Sniper soon began to hear a very faint buzzing coming from far off, from the direction of Everfree Forest. A darkened blur up in the sky …
"Good grief, now we're getting rain today. How's this supposed to help anything?" Rarity groaned. But this cloud looked a little bit odd to much of them.
"Wait a minute," Rainbow said, starting to fly up high above Ponyville, getting a better view of the cloud in front of them. They knew well clouds can't be moved anymore thanks to this fallout going on, so this couldn't be Pegesi moving rainclouds in for the day. Rainbow squinted, her vision focused as hard as it could. Soon, the terrifying surprise began to reveal itself.
"Parasprites. Mutated parasprites! EVERYBODY FIND COVER!" Rainbow Dash yelled.
An entire swarm of the same type of Parasprite began to close in right towards Ponyville. All of them were no ordinary Parasprites, all matching the appearance of the first one. All the normal parasprites looked on in horror, one of them even fainting. Without magic to stop them, nor the flying abilities of the Pegasus, this swarm was NOT going to be stopped by any creature, and all the residents of Ponyville quickly tried to find cover, including the mane six and company. It was hard enough, if not impossible to remove normal parasprites, and they only managed by chance thanks to one-mare-band Pinkie Pie. But if not even that was going to work, what were they supposed to do other than hide and hope for the best?
The swarm of the millennium swept right through Ponyville, so many of the residence trying to get what they can and get out of the swarm as fast as their hooves could carry them. The air filled with sounds of insect wings and buzzing, as numerous food sources and objects were stripped down, even more so than the invasion of the regular Parasprites. In the panic, Steven bolted off for cover under the nearest table, but the insects tore that up in no time at all.
"Steven!" Connie rushed out as quick as she could, reaching Steven fast and pulling him both out of the crossfire of the giant bugs, right into an alley. some of the bugs were there too, gnawing on the hay rooftops and wooden boxes and barrels, but they left them alone overall.
The assault spread all over Ponyville, the swarming insects leaving little to nothing behind in their wake of attack, all residents unable to stop any of it as all they could do was hide. It was brutal, but fast. As suddenly as they came, the swarming creatures had disappeared, flying off to newer grounds to continue their moving feast. The buzzing went quiet, and only then did they all come out to see what has become of their home.
Destroyed. Every last bit of it. Buildings torn down to just wood and rock. All remints of food gone in the blink of an eye. All the residents cautiously moved around, seeing whatever was left of their home. Spike slowly went over to one of the bushes, and one tiny touch of his claw made one final leaf fall to the ground.
"You know what the worst part of this is?" sighed Connie.
"What's that?" asked Starlight.
"This is only the first day."
…….
All day long, and on to the night, Ponyville … well, it didn't look like anypony could live there properly anymore. Not that any of them could really keep themselves still anyway, busily either working on rebuilding with what they had left (which was hardly any), or checking to see if anyone else was hurt. Such a swift yet cataclysmic move on Ponyville, it hadn't seen such destruction since, well the last time the Parasprites came to their home. And at least the original Parasprites didn't automatically tear apart their homes, and Pinkie HAD a way to stop them. Naturally, this sort of danger got the attention of the Princesses, who saw this unfold from the windows of their own home. None of them liked what they were seeing, and without magic as a backup option, this was far graver than it would normally be.
Even the Everfree Forest, which was by far the most forested area in Ponyville, was now stripped down to bare bone trees.
"When the sun rose, this place was a fertile town for any creature. But now … with the moon, it looks down upon a waste. I'm afraid it'll be a very long time, before there's enough food for any animal to make a living here," Cadance gravely confirmed. Even the princesses themselves had limits, and with most options taken away, what else could they do? Even the smaller remaining Parasprites had to agree on that, and they practically could eat anything. This was more apparently as one tried gnawing on a stick, just to spit it out.
"You all wouldn't happen to have a food emergency supply, would you?" Sadie asked.
"Eehh … we honestly didn't need one. You know, magic fixes and all. And even if we did, doubt we got much now," admitted Applejack. so much for a contingency place, but that was one of the sacrifices for living somewhere where someone can just "poof" something into existence with enough practice, Unicorn or otherwise. Besides, what could they salvage around here now? Twigs and pebbles?
"No problem, we just have to go into another town for a while. Think Manehatten might have a program for this?" Steven wondered.
"The situation is far more grim than it appears," Luna stated. "It's not just Ponyville that had been attacked by this plague. Country towns hardly even exist anymore, and as for the cities. Well, food supply there's been eaten away as well. These mutated Parasprites had traveled far more vast than you might think."
"Not to doubt your ability, princess, but how would you know that if you can't use magic?" Rarity asked.
*chirp**chirp*
And just as she said that, another small bird landed nearby the Alicorns. This time it was a more standard option in the form of a Passenger Pigeon, a note tied to its leg.
"Nevermind," Rarity said, as Luna got the message untied. Not too easy without her horn to do so, as she had to use her hooves and teeth instead. The message was much like the others they've received. Celestia looked to the letter herself.
"The swarm has taken out Canter Creek," Luna reported, much to the dismay of AJ. Chili Pepper's business must be looking horrible now, imagining fields of once prosperous peppers and other greens, now reduced to just bare roots. This was a deep dismay for the Alicorns to hear. How could their world just be wiped out so swiftly like this, and by matters of their own creation?
"Where did these Parasprites even come from? They eat a lot, sure, but they don't eat buildings too," wondered one of the ponies. It was a VERY large bit of Deja Vu for one alicorn, and she dropped her head in dismay. Oh Parasprites, and her attempt to fix things with just magic alone.
"Twilight?" Starlight asked.
"I uh … the Parasprites invaded Ponyville before, and I may or may not have tried to fix it with magic. … It kind of backfired," Twilight admitted. Trixie jumped at her for this.
"What?! YOU made these mutated eating machines?! Twilight, you doomed us all!"
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't -"
"Don't you start that!" Sniper suddenly snapped. "It doesn't matter who's fault it is, it doesn't change the fact that it happened."
"Thank you," Twilight thought. While still feeling guilty that a previous flaw had FINALLY come back to bite them after so long, there still was a few questions regarding this. For one thing, Twilight's main spell was to make the Parasprites stop eating their food, and that was actually successful … and they ate everything else but that. But the thing was, these Parasprites ate literally everything, food or otherwise. Her spell would've at least left the food alone, but apparently that didn't happen.
What WASN'T any excuse, was that she didn't technically got rid of the problem, just rolling a majority of them out of town into Fillydelphia instead of actually fixing the spell. Pushing the problem onto somepony else, you could say. And now THAT brought them right back to where it all started.
"We're faced with a difficult decision," Celestia concurred, "There isn't enough time to regrow any of our food … and if the reports are any accurate, simply moving away isn't going to be that easy."
"So what do we do?" a voice then asked. A question practically on everyone's mind, really. One of the ponies then turned to the humans.
"Your world doesn't have magic, what do you do when your town's out of food?" Trixie asked. Connie, Sadie, and Steven were left on the spot, and their minds kind of went blank. Their world may not have as much use to magic as Equus, but they never had to go into such a situation without food or anything. The closest they could say was when the Watertower of Beach City toppled over, but that was honestly a poor example (they still had food sources and didn't get all objects just washed away).
"Uhh … well, uh. … Any ideas, guys?" Sadie asked.
"Umm … I know, we can fish! Parasprites didn't eat all the fish," Steven replied, wishing he did have a straightforward answer to them.
"Steven, Ponies don't eat fish, remember?" Connie reminded. That ain't gonna work, but it was a decent idea. After all, Beach City wasn't really known for its farming, and they get plenty of fish throughout the day.
"Oh. ... Kelp-fishing then?" Steven shrugged.
"Even when we get the magic back, it still won't be enough to fully fix what those Parasprites did - this'll easily take months to recover," Celestia admitted. It was never a good thing to hear the princess herself say it can't be done. Magic was a strong component yes, but Celestia, Cadance, and Luna knew better than to just fix it all with one spell. Magic was gone, and from the messages, all of Equestria was being wiped clean right now, and unlike any conquering villain before, they were only out to destroy. And they had won.
"... There's nothing left for us here. If we are to survive. … We must leave Equestria."
The reaction was almost immediate, all residence of Ponyville going into a uproar.
"Leave Equestria? Impossible!" shouted one of the ponies.
"B-But outside?! There's nothing for us out there!" retorted another.
"Please, everypony! All of us had survived outside before coming together in Equestria. and we can do it again if we have to. … And I say we have to," Celestia confirmed, looking out once again to the landscape.
"Ridiculous! It'll all grow back, we just have to wait! We don't have to "go" anywhere!" snapped a particularly stubborn pony, and sitting down on the dirt as a more visual point. He was not going anywhere, and some of the residence were actually agreeing.
"And how long will that be? Weeks? Months? You can't just sit there without starving to death, that's just silly," Sniper stated.
"SO is running off out into the unknown! Where would we even go anyway?"
"He kind of has a point," Trixie quietly said to Sadie. Even if they all did want to go, where exactly could they even go to? Finding a land of plenty right off the bat was not as easy as it sounded, and with the swarm of Parasprites who knows what was actually left to go to. There was a moment to ponder on the option, and so far no one really had much clue.
"Hey, Rainbow, you and your kind get about don't you? Got any ideas?" Sniper asked. Rainbow scratched her head a bit, trying to come up with something, or somewhere for them all to go off to.
"Umm … well uh … not exactly. I fly around all over the place, but I'm not exactly "traveler's flight"," Rainbow Dash answered. She can fly around, don't get her wrong, but there was a difference between migratory flying, and just flying fast. The most she flew off to, anyway, was within Equestria borders - she never had to fly out of it in her life. Same could be said for the other pegasi.
"Celestia? Luna, Cadance? What about you three, do you have anything?" asked Steven.
"Hmm … I do have one idea, but I'm not too thrilled about it," said Luna.
"Go on then, what?" Sniper asked. It was a bit of a longshot when it came to actual accommodations, but Luna's suggestion was probably their best bet. Everyone there was looking to Luna, including the other princesses.
"...…. Midnight Palace. Pass the Nether Lands. It's the only land I know of where Parasprites can't reach. If there is any land still thriving without magic, it would be there."
"How're you not so thrilled about it then?" Sniper questioned. Luna sighed.
"Because that's the capitol of the Centaur and Gargoyle Kingdoms. In other words … it's where Tirek came from."
"LORD TIREK?!" gasped the ponies.
Sniper was the only one not in the know about it, but it was impossible for everyone else to forget such a tyrannical creature. Lord Tirek: the Centaur that took out the Crystal Gems, manipulated Draconequus Discord, and altogether had all power in Equestria! It was a miracle they even won to begin with over how many odds stacked on them, and if ONE Centaur could nearly kill two worlds with one rampage, who's to say what an entire army could do?
"Am I missing something?" Sniper asked, scratching his ears. Starlight shrugged.
"We're on rather precarious terms with the kingdom right now. And their king, Lord Vorak. ... Well, Celestia and I tried talking to him, but it turns out he's upset with both of us for not letting Tirek return home, and instead locking him away here. He found it an insult that we assume he can't deal with Tirek on his own terms, so he made us leave. I doubt he would want to see us again, but ... with the situation we're currently facing, it's the only place we have left. ..."
"W-Well, maybe he's more willing to talk?" Starlight asked.
"It's a nice thought, but Vorak is not as ... well ... the "understanding" type," Luna said.
"Then maybe he'll understand this time. I mean, the least we can do is try. It's not like we have anywhere else now anyway," Steven admitted. They took a minute to look around once more, seeing just how little they got now, and how much more was being taken away.
"It's settled then. Everypony. I'm sure we got a lot to do before we leave. Tomorrow, we leave Equestria. Together."
~~~~~~
Celestia's sun, now under its own power instead of the Alicorn herself, wasn't waiting as long as they would like to rise up in place of Luna's moon. The ponies of Ponyville needed a lot of convincing for all of them to actually do this, as some Ponies (notably those more in tune with modern living) were a bit harder to convince over others. Suddenly turning from modernize to nomadic would deter many creatures. But as they've explained, they can't afford to wait for their world to just come back to them, and if they were to have a decent living, they had to go no matter what the case may be.
So, for this new herd of Equestrian Ponies, their journey began the moment the sun rose into the sky, everyone following Luna and Celestia, for the two knew the way to Midnight Palace when nobody else did. Moving an entire residence out of Ponyville was no easy task, but eventually they all got everything they could get or salvage. A few personal items and some wagons were the overall gist of what they had to gather, being pulled along by a number of Earth Ponies, and Trixie if you count her caravan. Some of the older or weaker ponies were riding inside the wagons as everyone else resorted to just walking or hovering in the Pegesi's case.
As the group began to move on passed the borders of Ponyville, only Steven stopped and turned around to look back at what once was his friends' home. The only main item that wasn't taken away from this town was the small stream flowing through, and that was about it. Everything else was reduced to just rubble. Steven couldn't believe just how much was gone, and this was only the first thing from the weeks of no magic. If THIS was the first "trial" for Equestria, he had to wonder what else could be coming to them overtime on this trip. With a number of scenarios going around in his mind, he turned around and caught up with the rest of the herd.
So it began.
And though they marched on day after day towards Midnight Palace, this migration found very little of their home as they were forced to move on. Their once fertile home of Equestria, was now as barren as the deserts within the Badlands. Heck, the Badlands was probably doing a decent job in comparison if one were to think about it (they were used to it). But the more they went, it seemed that the Parasprites had already beaten them to it, leaving behind very little for them to salvage off of.
And they all were getting more discouraged as they went. As food went, the small bit of grass was what kept the ponies going, but the ones that couldn't do so were the humans, Spike, and Sniper, so this left them with probably the least amount of food. Even so, it didn't help in water which one could argue was an even bigger danger than food.
"Excuse me? How far is it to the Midnight Palace again? Feels like we've been walking forever," asked a rather winded Rarity. Formally would be a fine thing, but Rarity was just too tired to think about it all too much.
"If we're on the right path, we should be reaching the border soon. Passed that would be the Nether Lands. Should be a straight shot from there," Cadance replied, feeling tired herself. Flying would make the trip a lot quicker, but the princesses were not thinking of just leaving everyone behind for the sake of convenience.
"I do hope so," Rarity sighed, "... You wouldn't know if there would be a spa would you? Or some sort of treatment?"
"I'm … not entirely sure," Cadance admitted. Rarity hung her head in dismay, her less than perfect mane almost dragging on the ground. Bad enough she couldn't use her magic to brush her own tail, but now she couldn't even get the time to even do that. Oh joy.
Inside one of the wagons, Connie was given some time to rest inside along with a few others, Steven walking alongside to keep her some knowing company.
"Sure you don't want a ride, Steven?" Connie asked.
"No, it's cool, I can go like this for days," Steven reassured her, just for his stomach to growl loudly. A notable noise heard over the literal few days since they first left.
"Oh, come in here, you goof," Connie said, grabbing Steven by the arm and pulling him into the wagon. She wanted Steven alright as much as he wanted everyone else to be. They both shared a smile, but then looked to everyone else.
"So how long will we be staying at this palace?" Connie then asked, after Steven got situated properly.
"I don't know. I just hope Lord Vorak doesn't mind us staying. If he still has water and food, we'll all be okay in no time," Steven replied. That is, if Vorak minds sharing his bounty with them. Steven may have not met Vorak himself, but if Tirek, one of his followers, was anything to go by, then these guys probably wouldn't be any pushover. As they kept going though, one Draconequus was just full of complaints.
"I don't get how any of you manage not to just disappear and reappear whenever you want! My claw and hoof are KILLING me," Discord groaned. If he could, he would show his feet barking like a bunch of angry dogs. You know "my dogs are killing me" saying, but it didn't land as he couldn't even use his magic for that.
"Well I definitely miss you being able to disappear," Trixie griped.
"Give him a break, Trixie, none of us knew we weren't going to use magic like this," Steven said. Trixie just rolled her eyes.
"I honestly don't see what the problem is, we're just walking."
"EXACTLY, I haven't walked this long in a millennium," Discord cried, pulling down his cheeks and straining his eyelids. He also fell down onto his back, though Trixie didn't pay him too much trouble, and just kept walking with the rest of the herd.
"You're holding up well," Connie noted. Trixie just shrugged.
"Oh, this is nothing to me," Trixie said, waving her hoof in dismiss, "I'm a traveling performer; I go all over Equestria on my own four hooves, bringing my top-of-the-line traveler's caravan! The only difference here is I'm with my company the whole way."
Surprisingly humble of Trixie in her own way, and a valid point. All those years of traveling on hoof with her wagon in toe made this journey anything but hard for the unicorn. Trixie only had to pause for a minute to stretch her back hooves a bit before walking again.
Eventually, they began to see something off further away. A rather peculiar, yet memorable area that was the edge of Equestria: a huge deep canyon splitting Equestria, and the land beyond, rock formations scattered across the way. Cadance and Twilight have specific memories of this place thanks to one particular Draconequus and his half-cocked "disease" just to see if they'll actually take him as a equal. And now, with Ponyville all there, they had a slight problem …
Ok, a big problem.
"Oh THIS is just reassuring," Discord grumbled. Some of them went right to the edge of the cliff, looking downward to what looked to be nothingness, some slight pebbles dropped into darkness.
"Do we really have to?" asked Sadie.
"I think so. It won't be too hard - the Pegesi and Alicorns can carry just fly us across. Think you can do that guys?" Steven said, turning to the flyers in question. Flying across the canyon itself was a pretty straightforward task, and carrying somepony wasn't too complicated either. On this idea, they began doing just that, and one by one, the Pegesi and Alicorns both began carrying non-fliers across. The Pegesi continued going on back and forth from there with little incident between trips, making sure they all weren't going to fall into the abyss below. It would be a lie if it was a completely flawless fly around though, as some were a little bit more difficult.
"Hang on tight," said Fluttershy to Sadie.
"Don't worry," Sadie said, though that was for her letting go. Holding onto Fluttershy's front hooves, the Pegasus began to lift her up off the ground, and slowly started flying over the canyon. Sadie had to struggle just not to freak out, being so high up and all that, and Fluttershy herself had to keep looking forward to not get spooked herself.
"Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look …" and Sadie accidentally looked down. hundreds of feet straight up, unable to even see the actual bottom of the abyss. Her fight/flight response accidentally got kicked up a bit, and Fluttershy could feel Sadie's grip tighten a bit, almost a vicegrip on her hoof. It was then her hands actually began to get a little sweaty, her grip loosening on Fluttershy! And then …
"AAHH!"
"Sadie, I'm coming!" In a quick dive, Rainbow Dash zoomed right down into the abyss as Sadie fell down, screaming a bity before Rainbow just managed to bite into her collar, and her hooves wrapping around her underarms. Her wings flapped like mad to slow the decent, and soon Sadie was back flying up again. Good save.
"That was close. Thanks," Sadie said, taking a minute to slow down her heart as Rainbow placed her down on the otherside easy. Fluttershy landed beside her to check on her, glad to see she was okay.
"You alright over there?!" called Applejack.
"We're fine! Just avoided a near-death experience!" Sadie called back, as Fluttershy began flying back over. This was probably the worst of the incidents going on. bit by bit, the herd began to reform onto the otherside of the canyon, though as there was a few ponies left, there was some trouble when it came to the wagons. Multiple pegesi had to carry those, though then came Trixie's wagon.
"Be very careful with her! And don't damage anything!" Trixie called, who at this point was already on the other side of the canyon. Trixie felt a panic attack as a group of Pegasus began to slowly move the traveling wagon and everything in it over the canyon. What made Trixie's wagon the most difficult was that it was stocked full of all of Trixie's things, making it all the heavier for them all to move. Trixie couldn't even look, shivering as she covered her eyes. Each lean they made, and each sound of at least one item being knocked over in there. Like Greg with his van, Trixie and her wagon go WAY BACK, and she would hate to lose it now.
*THUD* And the caravan was safely across. As safely as it could be, anyway. Trixie went straight for the caravan, hugging one of the wheels, grateful it made it over in one piece.
"You care a lot for that, don't you?" Steven noted.
"Of course, I live in here!" Trixie said. Bizarrely familiar, but Steven not someone to question what someone would like, especially if they had their home on wheels.
"Well, we're out of Equestria now," said Twilight, looking back over the canyon. "And now we move into unknown territory. Wish I knew what's over here."
"Everything's going to be just fine, Twilight," Steven reassured. Twilight smiled, and soon the whole group was on the move again. Leaving Equestria behind them.
…….
Night came onto the group.
The Nether Lands sure were a bit different from the usual fields back home. In Equestria, you would find patted fields of grass, and in less urbanized areas some colorful flowering bushes and healthy trees. But the thing was, weather and care of plants were on part of the ponies, and the Nether Lands never had that touch, giving it a look more suited to Earth than Equestria. On the bright side, at least the group FINALLY found some water to drink in the form of a shallow river, which was where they stopped for the night. There was a bit going on, even if late at night. some were handling small talk, while others were right off asleep after a long day of traveling. Even with so much time walking though, a very few were still active and going about. And for Sniper's case, that would be some hunting by the river (or fishing, rather). He managed to catch himself a few good fish, though it took a lot of effort to handle, bringing them over back to Connie, Sadie, and Steven. The main catch was just about four fish, which were being cooked up by a fire built by Sadie and Steven.
"So good! Life is beautiful!" Steven said, almost in tears after tasting the cooked fish. Days of hardly tasting anything but some grass, and while may not be spiced up in any way, this meal was just heavenly to eat. Connie and Sadie couldn't help but agree. Sniper preferred his fish raw, gnawing on it like a dog with a chew toy.
"Glad y'all finally got somethin' to eat," AJ said, "Better stock up, don't know when the next meal's gonna be."
"AND water for all of us. I was scared those Parasprites might've drank it all when they first showed up," Sadie admitted, as Pinkie Pie gulped down a good drink from the river close by. The clear, cool water was just simply refreshing down her dry throat, as she sighed in sweet relief.
"All the same, we're doing better than I thought. I'd guess at least one of you would've given up by now."
"See, Sniper? That's the power of working together, and taking care of eachother. We can make it through anything," Steven reminded. Sniper chuckled.
"Alright, you got me there. Guess there is a difference between a pack and a herd, even if a little bit. We both take care of eachother, but you take it up a notch."
"Following your logic, we have to be. I mean, we're ponies and humans, we don't have claws or fangs," Applejack said, looking to her hoof. Sure she got a lot of muscle on those kickers, though she can't cut a fish in two by kicking it. Sniper well saw her point there, and finished off his fish in a good gulp.
"Darn good, these fish."
"You know, we can fish for a bit if you want," Sadie offered.
"You can catch fish?" Sniper asked, a little confused.
"Sure we do, Beach City's all about fishing. We can show you how we do it if you'd like," Steven said. Sniper got up and stretched a bit, yawning good and long.
"No thanks. I've done enough fishing for the night. If you're still hungry, go right ahead, there's a good shoal of em further down," Sniper replied, settling down over by the fire. Sadie and Steven both got up, but Steven looked to the others.
"You guys wanna come?"
"Heck, sure, I'll go," Rainbow replied, "Could use some athletic practice."
"Me too," Starlight said, "I've been meaning to actually try fishing, but never really tried."
"Alright then, you have fun. Don't go off too far," Applejack advised. So Sadie, Steven, Rainbow, and Starlight went off along the river to where Sniper mentioned. It was a bit risky to just let them go off like this, but on the other hand, at least they had eachother. Far better than any of them being alone in any circumstance. Applejack watched them go off alongside Connie. Soon Applejack put out the fire for the night, and everyone began to go off to sleep. While they both didn't say anything, it was only natural they'd be a bit worried for them.
...*grrrr*...
And they had every right to be. Something was on the prowl. And not long after the four had left, this native to the Nether decided that it was time to give one of these newcomers a "warm welcome".
.......
"Okay, so how do you do it?" Starlight asked, watching Sadie look into the water with what looked to be a sharpened branch, made into a spear. Starlight and Steven had one themselves, though they weren't sure how to do it exactly.
"It takes some precision. You look into the water, spear at the ready ... wait for the right moment ... and ..."
And in one well aimed strike, one of the fish was caught, skewered quick and painless. It was a bit impressive for the two to see, though Rainbow Dash was getting a little impatient with the lesson in spear-fishing.
"Finally we're getting somewhere," Rainbow said, "now we can actually have some fun."
"Okay. So just wait, and ... HYAA!" Steven tried his luck, but he was just a little too slow, and all he stabbed was the muddy bottom, the fish scattering away. not the best attempt, but Rainbow Dash wanted in on the action and tried another approach. She flew overhead of the river, and with a quick "kingfisher's dive", she snatched up one of the fish in her own muzzle. A bit easier pinpointing a fish in a river than out in the ocean.
"Ok, show-off," Starlight commented jokingly, as Rainbow Dash landed with fish in her mouth ... just for it to wiggle out quick, hitting her face on the way falling to the river. Oh well, no one was perfect.
"Okay, Starlight, you try one," Rainbow Dash said smugly, wiping off where the fish slapped her. Oh boy, now it was her turn, and she could barely hold onto her spear correctly with her hooves. Starlight looked into the water, seeing only one fish left. Starlight raised her spear up above her head, both hooves on it, but this fish was a little bit cleverer than they thought. AND an archerfish. One well aimed from the fishie, and it shot Starlight right in the eye, making her stumble back, and drop her weapon. Steven and Rainbow Dash just couldn't help it, and just laughed as the archerfish swam away. It was just too funny.
"Laugh it up, hamhocks," Starlight grumbled, rubbing the water out of her eye.
"Sorry, Starlight, it's just out of nowhere," Steven said giggling. Rainbow, being the least tactful, actually fell onto her back laughing ... until the Archerfish, seeing her close, shot her in the ear with a stream of water. Whelp, that made her shut up, and Starlight actually chuckled.
"Oh, wanna play around, do you fish?" Rainbow Dash said. No fish spits at her and gets away with it, as the Pegasus got airborne again, readying for another -
"MMMPH!" *snap!*
"Huh?"
The muffled yelling was a bit hard to hear from where they were, but was a bit more prominent was the snapping noise, catching their attention (and the archerfish swimming the opposite direction). She saw quite a bit from being up above much of the shrubs, though she then began to see one of them move. And some sort of liquid being splashed out of it. Was that water? ... No, too dark to tell. Curious, Rainbow actually flew over to the bush, and as she landed, the rustling stopped. Sadie, Starlight, and Steven began to follow her towards the large bush. Upon closer inspection of this liquid, they actually made a horrifying discovery.
It was blood.
*SHING* "YOW!"
Out of nowhere, something leaped out and tackled right into Rainbow Dash, sinking its claws and teeth into her wing! The attack was swift as it was brutal, and made Rainbow Dash tumble head over hooves, right into Sadie and Steven. As for what attacked them, the moonlight revealed a carnivorous creature. About as big as a pony, slightly dog-like with longer back legs, but with droopy rabbit-like ears. Its eyes stared at them for a moment, almost goat-like, and its muzzle was covered in liquid. It looked flawless, with the exception of one cut in the creature's right eye. It went back into the bush, and got what it came for. In the form of a Ponyville resident! And soon it took off with her.
"No! STOP!" Steven shouted, the four immediately giving chase. The creature, whatever it was, moved extremely quick even with food in his mouth, and the two ponies and humans were left pretty far behind in the field. Rainbow would've caught up by now, but the attack deeply injured her wing, to the point where she couldn't fly at all. She could only gallop, flapping her wings for some extra speed and nothing else. The hunter got a very good distance from them, for so it seemed to be. It almost looked like the creature was fading away, disappearing from sight it moved so quick, but none of them were going to give up, and in a mad burst of speed, Rainbow Dash was gaining up on it.
"I GOT YOU NOW!" The creature was soon slammed off of the pony, the hunter skidding to a stop. The four quickly went to the pony, but they soon found quickly that this chase was Illy rewarded.
"Hey, you're safe! Get up, come on!" Steven said ... only to find nothing. Steven tried to get her up, but turning her over, they all saw the deep bite mark in her neck. And she was not getting up.
*RAAHH!*
"Scatter!" Sadie shouted, as the predator charged at them all. They all had to quickly scatter away, its claws almost slicing into them on the spot. The predator was hoping this would be a silent hunt, but that clearly wasn't gonna happen. It tasted blood and it wasn't going to leave so quickly with fresh meat on the ground. The others moved, but Steven suddenly found himself frozen still, looking to the killer. The creature and Steven stared eye to eye, the snarling beast moving ever closer to him. Rainbow jumped in between the creature and Steven, wings spread. This was barely a deterrent though, one wing drooping a little bit.
"SIGBIN!" A voice shouted from above. And suddenly the princess of the night, Luna, rushed in and tackled the carnivore a good twenty feet away. The move stung, and the Sigbin as it was called, skidded to a halt again, snarling at the Alicorn. Immediately it jumped Luna, claws and fangs digging into her, but the battle-ready Alicorn flew up, and forced the Sigbin off of her. Any closer to her throat and that would've been the finisher right there.
"Luna," it hissed.
"I-It can talk?" Sadie asked. The Sigbin moved over towards the dead pony, grabbing it and starting to drag it off a little bit. Luna kept her wings spread, ready to attack at any moment the creature would jump them.
"Every night since you arrived here, you come and fight me. And every night you lose. I already crushed her wing. Next it will be your throat."
"Try it, and I'll scratch out your other eye," Luna warned, battle at the ready. The Sigbin snarled at her, but now with the odds against it, there's no reason risking injury. It'll just have to hunt something else for now, and left the carcass for the others to go over. And just like that, it was over, and the Sigbin was gone. Luna relaxed after a bit, seeing the dead pony laying on the ground. And then she turned to the others.
"What was she talking about? Every night, Luna? How long were you doing this?" Steven asked. Luna didn't answer though, instead looking to Rainbow's wing, spreading it with her hooves to inspect it. Rainbow cringed a little but on the pain, and Luna looked to Rainbow Dash dead in the eyes.
"Did anything break, Rainbow? You have to be honest with me," Luna asked, stern and urgent. Rainbow looked to her cut wing, and gave it a few flaps.
"I don't think so."
"Good."
~~~~~~
"The Sigbin? What in tarnation's a Sigbin?"
While specific on who was asking at the moment, this was left on the mind of quite a good amount of the group as the time went on by into the next day. As cold-hearted as it might sound, the funeral for the fallen pony wasn't as long as one would expect: burying the body, giving a few kind words, and moving on. But given their circumstance, and the longer they mess around the more danger they would be in, it stood to reason just enough that they couldn't afford to wait long. They still had a lot of the Nether Lands to go, and a lot of time left in the fallout to endure. In a way, her trouble's were over.
"It's one of the native predators in the Nether Lands," replied Luna, "Sigbin don't usually prey upon ponies, if at all. I'm shocked it was ravenous enough to do so."
"Well, I wouldn't blame her for it," Sniper sighed, speaking as a predator himself in his own right, "When you're in a area with little to gather, you have to take what you can get."
"Why am I not surprised you would say that?" Rainbow commented. Course a fellow carnivore wouldn't bother too much about it.
"He's right all the same," Rarity admitted. "Besides, it's best for us Sniper's used to scavenging, or where would we be?"
"Doesn't make it any better. Bad enough we lost our magic, now we're reduced to a moving entrée for whatever wants to eat us. Well, This entrée isn't going down without a fight! Just let em try next time," Rainbow said, doing a few air punches and kicks. She may not be able to do Sonic Rainbooms, but that didn't mean she was completely helpless, even with her wing still out of commission.
"Glad you're so enthusiastic, Rainbow Dash, but I can't allow you to guard for us, not with your damaged wing."
"Come on, I can still fight. I'll be sure to protect all of you," Rainbow promised. She wasn't the only one of course: since this attack, Luna and Celestia had agreed to set up some watches just in case this would happen again, and they were always checking for some extra eyes for better surveillance. Luna herself needed it, as the cut in her chest were still aching from the attack, the claws and teeth of the Sigbin still being felt in the Alicorn's fur. No doubt in her mind that same pain was still in Rainbow's wing.
"Uh, that aside, had any of you heard from Steven since last night? Dunno about you, but I haven't heard him say a word since we started moving again," asked Applejack.
Rarity, Luna, Rainbow, and Sniper looked off into the herd to one of the wagons again, seeing Steven still inside, resting alongside some of the younger ponies. At the moment, he was keeping himself busy by pointing out constellations in the sky (yes, the stars were still out in the daytime), and helping out some of the more exhausted ponies whenever he could, Nice on the surface, though this was just to distract himself, and they all knew it to some extent, especially those closer to him.
"He's wearing himself out. Poor Sugarcube," Applejack sighed.
"Can't blame him though. He did promise to protect all of us while this was happening, remember. And the … incident last night, didn't help," Rarity figured. If she were in his shoes on such a promise, it only made sense that it would feel a bitter blow.
"He'll feel better. In time," Luna reassured.
She'll be comin round the mountain, she'll be comin' round the mountain
They took a look back, and they then began to see Pinkie Pie trotting along, singing a tune as they went. Normally a song would lift spirits and extend run time, but this song, thanks to some bit of exhaustion from traveling, Pinkie was less cheerful and more … weird. Which was honestly hard to tell for her. The singing was a little bit off key too, as she was singing songs since they left (which was hours of singing straight).
"She better hurry it up around that mountain, cuz' I don't think I can stand it much longer," Trixie commented nearby.
"Pinkie's just trying to cope with all this in her own, special way," said Starlight, though she didn't enjoy it too much either. A song was good for ten minutes at longest in one shot, but it becomes degrading after hours.
"Well, she better put a sock in it soon. The vultures are circling," Trixie replied. And true as that was, a pair of the death birds were flying overhead. Since they left Ponyville, vultures were a more common sight above their heads, as they always looked forward to any stragglers and fallen creatures in a migration like this.
"HEY! SHE'S NOT DYING!" Starlight called to the birds. The vulture looked confused at first, one looking down to the unicorn with a puzzled expression. It didn't help that Pinkie Pie then stopped when she found something.
"Ooo. Maybe this guy knows which way to go," Pinkie said, finding a skull left behind, holding it up to her ear like a telephone.
"... What's that friend? We're lost?" Pinkie then began to giggle a bit, her voice dry as she tossed the skull. Pinkie flinched for one brief moment, before completely collapsing onto the ground, her hair and tail "deflating".
"WE'LL KEEP YOU POSTED!" Trixie called.
Whelp, a false alarm. The Vultures flew off from there, as some of the others stopped to see the fallen mare. Nothing much they could do for her except for try and push her on.
"Come on, Pinkie, we have to keep going," Starlight said. Rather than wait, the unicorn picked her up by the tail, and began dragging her instead. Not the best way, but it kept her around with the herd.
Amongst the herd too, some spirits were getting a bit more troubled in this walk. One in particular was Discord, who at this point was practically crawling to keep up with the other ponies.
"I swear to goodness, this Midnight Palace better be good," Discord groaned. "Nothing out here but rocks, grass, and this road. REALLY, how do you all even cope?"
"Asks the lord of Chaos, who can't walk without whining NON-STOP," Trixie spat.
"Yes, but when I get my magic back, I'll be able to rip the very fabric of reality! While you will remain a self-absorbed, below-average, ILLUSIONIST."
"SELF-ABSORBED?! Why you -"
"WAIT, stop!" and suddenly Steven jumped in between Trixie and Discord before a fight could even begin to occur. "I know we're all on edge, and we're very tired, but please don't take it out on eachother? Please?"
Even if much of his Gem tricks were inactive as of the time being, Steven still had a few tricks up his sleeve. In this case, his puppy dog eyes were just enough to avoid another fight, and Trixie and Discord just kept on going.
"Another crisis obverted," Steven told himself.
"MAYBE, but who knows how long it'll be until we even GET to this Midnight Palace? I'm so close to collapsing right now -" Discord suddenly stopped when he saw Trixie looking back at him. All he was doing was proving her point. "... And I'll be quiet now."
"Thank you," Trixie said, as she trotted on ahead.
"You may not have to worry anymore, Discord."
Discord looked over to Celestia, who was just reaching the top of the next hill. Hearing treasuring words like that meant something was just up ahead for them, and it took them little time to actually see what was up.
And boy did they find it.
Soon, they all began to see sight of something spectacular. Or at least, something far better than what they've seen so far. for a good start the second they saw the place; the mutated Parasprites hadn't ventured into the city yet as much of the plants were still flourishing. They were not as abundant as Ponyville had them, but it was still something nonetheless. The land wasn't put to waste either: much of it farmland, and far off to the distance, a lone, tall tower.
Midnight Palace.
And just like that, Pinkie Pie was immediately on the spur of action again.
"Midnight Palace! We are doing it you guys!"
"You know what they say: where there's a kingdom. THERE'S A SPA!" Rarity said.
"Who says that?" Rainbow asked.
"Let me remind you we're tryin to find a home for the Fallout?" Applejack reminded.
"I can multi-task," Rarity replied. The herd began to go off towards the settlement, but unfortunately for them, Celestia opened her wings, and stopped them from continuing on towards Midnight Palace.
"I'm afraid you all will have to wait until I get the approval from Vorak. King Vorak will not approve of all of you to just wander into his kingdom without clearance," Celestia instructed. None of them wanted to get into anymore trouble, especially since the Sigbin attack earlier, so none of them really retorted or rejected her.
"Twilight, will you accompany me?" Celestia asked. It would be best for all the princesses to be there to talk to the king. Before Twilight could go though, Sniper had some advice for her.
"Make sure you press the fact this is survival we're talking about, ok?"
"He's a ruler of his own kingdom, Sniper. I don't think it'll resort to that," Twilight said, before she flew off.
So, with Luna, Cadance, Celestia, and Twilight gone it left everyone else with … well, impatience honestly. Days of going from their wrecked home to here, hardly finding much to eat or drink, and they still have to wait for proper passing by King Vorak just to go inside his own borders. It didn't help that so much of the crops grown around the area looked very appetizing to many of them. And with that in mind it didn't take them more than at least half an hour before their hunger started to catch up to them.
"Wonder what they grow around here?" Trixie asked at one point.
"Beats me. Whatever it is, they're growing a lot of it," Applejack replied. Naturally the farm pony would know hard work in the fields, and this was plenty of effort. Surely there was some bit of food they could share with them.
"... Ok, I'll just say it, why can't we just go in? I'm just starving," Trixie said, which didn't help when they all heard a growling stomach from the unicorn.
"Well, there's a good flower patch just back there," noted Sadie. Trixie huffed.
"I don't know if I'm that desperate …"
"But, you're starving?" Sadie asked, though having a knowing smile.
"Now who's whining?" cut in a nosy Draconequus. Trixie blushed in embarrassment, and just trotted away with a huff. But in her trot, Trixie stopped and took a good look down the hill towards the farmland, and actually began to notice something in particular. It was a little but far from where they were, so details were a bit fuzzy, but Trixie was soon going over to Applejack.
"Hey. You're a farm pony, right? … Is that an apple tree over there?" Trixie asked. AJ looked over towards the tree in question.
"My Celestia, it is! It's looking pretty ripe too," Applejack said. Some of the others went over to see themselves, and the apple tree was soon in sight with a good amount of the herd. Nothing would taste better than a freshly-plucked apple. Steven couldn't agree more, though he was seeing plenty of hungry folks as well, and … well, he wasn't sure what to do.
"You ok, Steven?" Connie asked.
"Yeah. I want to help them, but Celestia said to stay here," Steven said gravely. It didn't help that he too was plenty hungry, and having some apples in his stomach would do him and everyone else a world of good.
"So, you rebel. Isn't that, like, your guys' thing?" Trixie asked.
"You're right!" Steven realized. And in his state of hunger, and now inspiration, he quickly got the answer.
"I got it! You all can wait here, and while the princesses are gone I can go down there and bring some apples back. That way you can eat, and be safe at the same time. Eheheheheh."
Truly, this was a plan of the mastermind.
"Wow. You're a real anarchist," Trixie dryly commented.
"Sounds like you can use some more hands, Steven. Mind if we tag along?" Connie asked, Starlight Glimmer willing to come with him too.
"The more the merrier!" Steven answered. So the plan was set; the trio would head to the tree, and everyone else could stay behind and wait for food to come to them. It was probably for the best since who knows how long it'll be for this meeting of the princesses and king to finish.
~~~~~~
Heading off into the borders of the kingdom, Starlight, Steven, and Connie got quite an eyeful of what the kingdom had to offer. The unicorn and two half-Gems (or full humans technically speaking), found themselves heading through a good area of forested-lined farmland. A number of copses could be seen in a number of places along the dirt road, which they could tell was matted down by large hooves. Outside of the copses, there still was a lot of farmland to be found, much of the ground passed the wooden fences plowed, and turned up for some good farming. Any Parasprite probably would have a grand feast here, the trio seeing all sorts of grains and vegetables all over the place. They weren't above it, but they didn't want their first impression in the kingdom to be thief of someone else's crop.
Besides, why steal crop when there's free apples? Sight-seeing was mainly the extra package for the main goal, as they began to near the same apple tree they saw coming in. The tall tree was right next to a cool water stream, and Macintosh apples beckoned in its branches. They sure looked tasty.
"Alright, did you bring the buckets?" Steven asked. That answer was easy to see when Connie showed them all the large bucket for the apples to fit into. They needed all the room they could need for the apples. But as they looked up into the tree, there was one little problem: the size. As Centaurs were naturally bigger than ponies, the same thing could be said for the plants growing here. This wasn't any simple apple tree bred at Apple Acres, as it looked a lot bigger and taller.
"Okay then … how to get them down?" Starlight wondered. Typically she would just use her magic to pull them out of the tree, or the very least shakes the branches to knock the apples down. But again, no magic, so no easy way out of it. Steven and Connie tried the first natural trick - jumping. They did get some good air, and Connie even jumped, and then "double-jumped" off of the tree trunk, but she still couldn't get one.
"Ok, too tall," Connie concluded. But her using the trunk for some extra air time did give Starlight and Steven some ideas.
"Wait, I got it," Steven said. He walked right up to the tree, rallied up his fist, and in a strong swing slammed his fist right into the tree as hard as he could muster.
All he got was a leaf falling on his head.
And a sore hand.
"... Ow. … oh ow," Steven whimpered, stepping away from the tree, and holding his hand. Like so many other things, his gem strength was NOT going to work in his favor now. As for progress, he might as well spat at it for what he did here. Starlight took a glance up to her horn, before she decided to try something a bit more reckless with it. Like a bull, her front hoof scraped the ground, and after getting some good traction, galloped right head long into the tree! …
And got her horn stuck. Oh joy.
"Uh. Help?" Starlight asked, trying to pull out her horn, her hooves digging into the ground. Steven and Connie got Starlight out after a few pulls, her horn popping out of the tree once they finally did so. It was a good thing her horn didn't get completely stuck, and all that ram did was give Starlight a headache. She should leave that to actual rams. Steven just sighed.
"Alright, we'll do it the normal way," Steven decided.
So, he went right to the trunk of the tree, and with a good grip on it, began to climb up. How long had it been since he climbed a tree? Starlight and Connie waited down below as Steven slowly, but surely, managed to get himself climbing up into the tree's branches. Once Steven got himself situated on a sturdy enough branch, he found himself in the company of so many apples all around him within the leaves. Just looking at the ripe apples made him hungry, but he had to keep focused … even after he took a few bites out of one of the apples first. You know, to make sure they're ripe. Of course.
"So delicious," Steven gasped. After sampling the apples to make sure they were okay, Steven looked down to Connie and Starlight.
"Ready, Steven," called Connie, bucket ready to catch whatever apples would fall.
"Okay, here they come," Steven called back. Soon, he started to shake the branch he was on first. It took a food good shakes, but eventually the apples started to fall from the tree, Connie going back and forth below to catch them as they fell. Starlight went around and got the apples that fell onto the ground, placing them in her own bucket. This turned into a game basically, Starlight and Connie running back and forth to get whatever apples fell. Steven meanwhile continued his share and went around the branches to shake apples down. It was actually kind of fun after a while, and it didn't take them too long until both buckets were practically overflowing with apples. Well more than enough for a good meal for those back by the border.
"Okay, you can come down now," Starlight said.
"Almost, I see some very big ones over here," Steven replied. However, as with any big prize, it was usually the hardest to get. The set of apples were out along the branches, hanging over the river. and anyone who probably heard of this scenario could guess what happened next as Steven tried to reach for them.
Starlight sighed. "Three. Two. One."
"WHOA!" *splash*
And right into the stream he went. They could've seen that scenario a mile away, though Steven got himself out of the fresh, cool water. Honestly it wasn't that bad. Heck, he probably would've jumped into the stream anyway, though the splash did get Starlight and Connie on the bank.
"You saw that coming, did you?" Steven asked.
"Clearly," Connie joked, before helping Steven back on the bank. Well, they got a cooldown, and a lot of good apples to boot. Too bad those apples still hung onto the tree. But it wasn't a total loss though, they still had a ton of apples in the buckets to snack on if they wanted to. With this splash though, that didn't go unnoticed by the locals.
"Hey!" shouted a farming Centaur. Connie, Steven, and Starlight were now alert again, and now saw the apparent owner of said tree coming towards them. He looked a bit like Tirek to an extent, but the red-skinned Centaur looked more "human-like" than the simian-appearing Tirek. The Centaur also was holding a scythe for his grain, which didn't make things any easier.
"And where do you think you're going with my apples?" the Centaur questioned.
"Your apples? Oh, sorry, we're about done anyway. You can keep the rest," Steven said humbly. However, the Centaur wasn't gonna give them the chance to do that, and took the apple buckets from them both.
"Hey, we need those!" Starlight retorted.
"Oh? Allow me to present that in the following way."
…
"AAHH!" *splash*
And now all three of them were in the stream. If any of them did have their magic, they could've stopped the Centaur, but they were powerless to do much against him, and the Centaur went off back to work, bringing the apple buckets with him. Whether he owned the tree or not, they weren't getting those apples back. Starlight and Steven got themselves back onto shore further down the stream, and Connie was later pulled out by someone, placed down back onto the bank. All three of them were soaked, hungry, and now got nothing to show for their effort.
"Thanks, Steven," Connie said, drying her hair off.
"I didn't do that," Steven admitted.
And then another native landed over by them. Unlike the Centaur before, she looked a bit less dangerous towards the three, and in fact looked quite pretty. She had a human-like figure, actually a bit more human-sized when compared to the larger Centaurs. While appearing human at first, this being was actually that of the Gargoyle: a cow-like tail with a flattened cow-like face, and a set of bat-like wings with a spike on each. Her hair and fur were a dullish brown, and the outfit she wore actually made her look a bit more like higher-class: dressed in sapphire along her chest, and with a flowing white dress that flowed passed her feet.
"Someone had a nice swim," she joked.
"Oh, hello," said Steven. "Uh, sorry about the apples, we're just trying to find something to eat. We didn't know the tree belonged to anyone."
"The tree? … OH, you mean that apple tree upstream?" she asked, looking upstream a bit, seeing the tree in question.
"Yeah, we're really sorry about that," Connie said. The Gargoyle wasn't very bothered by this though.
"It is hard to ignore such sweet fruit. But no, that tree is open to whoever," the Gargoyle said.
"But he just said it was his apples. The Centaur in the next field."
The Gargoyle sighed.
"Oh, him. He's a rather old Centaur. He likes to think that since his land is closest to the tree, he owns it. He didn't drive you off, did he?"
"He threw us in the stream, and took our buckets away," Steven explained. They didn't go too far downstream, so they could just see the same Centaur off with buckets in hand. The Gargoyle didn't need to be told that much else, and that was when she flew off on them. Steven, Starlight, and Connie watched her go right to the Centaur, who actually ended up startled on sight of her. They couldn't hear her, but next thing they knew, the Gargoyle ended up flying right back to them with the apple buckets. some apples were missing from the buckets, but still plenty of apples still filled up both buckets pretty well.
"I know there's some gone, but it'll be plenty for you three," the Gargoyle said, giving the buckets to Connie and Steven.
"Wow, thanks," Steven said smiling. Just as his stomach began to growl again. Pretty good timing on the Gargoyle's part.
"It's been such a long time since we've had outside species come and visit. What brings you this way?" she asked, as the three helped themselves to one apple a piece. As much as they wanted to bring the apples back, they needed something for themselves as well.
"It's … kind of a long story. And it's something to do with the sky," Starlight replied.
Next thing they knew, they were taking the time to explain to the Gargoyle what they've gone over so far from Equestria. The four took some time sitting over by the same apple tree, listening to the sounds of the stream and actually didn't leave much details out. The Gargoyle began to feel a bit sorry for the ponies: losing their home and magic like that so quickly. Their encounter with the Sigbin as well made it even more bothersome.
"So, that's what brought us over here," concluded Steven.
"Oh my. And you lost it all in one day?" the Gargoyle asked, concerned.
"Very quickly too. Here, look," Starlight said. She began to focus as much energy as she could muster in using any sort of spell with her horn. While the horn did flicker and spark ever so slightly, she couldn't even remotely manage to do a simple magical beam. All the focus in the world couldn't even let her lift the bucket with her magic. The Gargoyle took a look up to the sky, seeing the stars still.
"See?" Steven said, "And we're hoping we can find a home here until the Everstorm's over … or when Equestria recovers. Whichever comes first. Celestia's trying to talk to King Vorak about it."
The Gargoyle looked off above her head, thinking, as if the answer was floating somewhere above her head and she was trying to find it. Eventually, the Gargoyle got up.
"Hmm … perhaps we can join them?"
…….
Speaking of which, Celestia, Cadance, Luna, and Twilight were just about venturing towards the Midnight Palace. Twilight Sparkle was trying her best to keep herself together, being one of those rarer opportunities to meet another ruler of another species. No matter how many times she met any Alicorn, Diamond, or whichever, she could never truly keep her nerves together. She could only hope that King Vorak was in a listening mood today.
"Nervous?" Celestia asked.
"Oh, no, I'm just going to meet a ruler that has a grudge against Equestria thanks to Tirek, and we could possibly end up in prison just for showing up!"
Clearly, a very scared mare.
"Everything will be fine, Twilight, I promise. I know with your aid we can get through this."
"Me? Really?"
"Twilight. You've proven time and time again that you're not only a great leader, but a great friend. If anyone could help here, it's you," Celestia explained with a reassuring smile. It was hard to not really doubt Celestia, though Twilight did have to consider it. After all, there were very few reasons Celestia and Luna would give up their own Cutie Marks and "status". At the least, their own appearance was proof to present to Vorak in case he wouldn't believe them.
The four alicorns began to land over by the front palace doors, and it didn't take them very long before they were confronted by a set of Gargoyle guards, dressed from head to toe in silver armory, their spears blocking the door.
"Halt. Identify yourselves immediately," one of the guards said. Celestia went over first.
"I am princess Celestia of Equestria. Myself, and the rest of the princesses of Equestria wish to speak to the King," Celestia said. As probably expected, the guards were a bit skeptical.
"What proof do you have of that name?" the guard quizzed. One would think that an Alicorn would be more than enough to convince, but apparently it was more complicated than that.. Without her Cutie Mark to show for it, Celestia had to work her own words to even get in.
"I … don't. I was forced to remove my status as Celestia just days prior to arriving."
"Then you have no business going in."
"Please. Maybe you won't believe her, but maybe you'll listen to me. I am princess Mi Amora Cadanza, ruler of the Crystal Empire, and princess of family," Cadance introduced, though even so she still made a bow of respect to them. Unlike Celestia and Luna, Cadance had everyone on her to identify herself as such, Cutie Mark and all. The guards looked to one another for a bit. Without a word, one of the guards actually went on inside the Palace. It took a little bit until the second guard showed up.
No words were mentioned, but they were gestured inside.
The interior of the palace was about as dark and foreboding as the name probably would imply. If compared to anything, it had a sort of look to a restored "Castle of the Two Sisters", something like how it possibly would've been if Nightmare Moon would've won Equestria and took over the palace for herself.
It honestly didn't take very long of a walk until they reached the throne room in question. The throne room was very expansive, making the four alicorns feel more like mice. Heck, a member of the Diamond Authority could wander around inside with little to no problem, with large stone pillars holding the ground and ceiling in place. A curving set of stairs wrapped around towards a room to the back, and oddly not much of a throne anywhere. Red moss covered the ceilings above them. A number of Centaur and Gargoyle guards were lined up in a row: going in order from Centaur to Gargoyle.
And then they saw him. King Vorak in the flesh. The foreboding appearance of Vorak set him apart from the other Centaurs, as he himself was the most regal one present. His red-skinned face, black eyes with yellow irises, with black sideburns gave them rather eerie memories of Tirek already, though Vorak looked a bit older in his years with a grey beard, mane, and tail. His outfit was purely that of a king: with what could easily be described as Sombra's cloak along his back, a full-bodied grey suit, and armory consisting of a gold sapphire chest plate, and golden hoof coverings and wrist coverings.
Twilight was probably the most worried on seeing the Centaur, and not even a minute in, Vorak did not look pleased at all with seeing any of them. The Centaur moved closer, right up to Celestia herself, who of which he was just a bit taller over.
"So. You finally decided to grace us with your presence after all," said Vorak.
"It would seem so," replied Celestia. Vorak didn't seem fazed at all with the fact Celestia and Luna looked different from normal (with the notable exception of Luna's wounds, that is), and it took just enough courage for Twilight to move into view.
"Yeah, hi. Princess of Friendship," Twilight said humbly. Vorak eyed Twilight in particular, which did not make the situation any easier. Twilight may have not been involved with the first attempt of Tirek's invasion on Equestria, but she clearly was involved in the second. If even half of what Luna said was true, this simple meeting could go south at any moment.
"... A fourth princess. Expanding your ranks, Celestia?"
"She earned her title, Vorak," Celestia said. "Though, that isn't why I arrived before you today."
"I'm listening," Vorak simply said. Though, it probably wouldn't be as simple.
"Equestria is currently facing a worldwide epidemic due to the current involvements of an Everstorm - a mass of magical energy that has drained all magic users of such."
"You're not asking we go in and fix everything," Vorak scoffed. Sounded like a waste of his time if anything.
"Well, no. We'd like to ask your permission for a group of Equestrians to stay within your kingdom until Equestria has recovered again," Cadance revealed. Vorak called hogwash on such an idea.
"Celestia and Luna locked away one of my Centaurs, and refused to return him back home. And you're expecting me to let you stay in my kingdom? Out of the question. You think we're not capable of handling our own kind?" Vorak questioned.
"N-No, not at all! It's just -" Vorak's hoof slammed onto the ground to silence her.
"To keep Tirek from coming home is a crime in itself, not to mention you put him in Tartarus. I will not allow you to live within my kingdom! Now good day to you," he bellowed. Some of the guards already started to go over to them, Vorak turning to walk away. He was not allowing this, not from them.
"But Vorak, if you'll let us explain our situation," Luna said.
"Don't even bother," Vorak concluded, "I've tried playing fare with Equestria, but if you're going to do this to my people, then what's the point?"
"But we have nowhere else to go!" Twilight blurted out. THAT got Vorak interested, or at least some more attention.
"... Excuse me?"
"Equestria's suffering a lot more than just magic loss - Parasprites had torn the entire land completely, and we can't do anything to them without our magic! The only place not effected is … well, here. We can't survive anywhere else!"
Twilight was then pushed out of the bunch towards Vorak. Twilight felt the same worry she had when she was facing Tirek so long ago. Those same power-filled eyes staring daggers down at her. She didn't want to bring this up just yet, but if they were going to have some chance to survive, then they had to get to the point of the problem.
"Equestria has fallen? And by a bunch of Parasprites?"
"Uh, mutated Parasprites, actually," Twilight corrected.
"... Let me think about this. I've heard reports over thousands of years that Equestria had faced numerous invaders, threats, and natural disasters, and still stood strong for a millennium. And you're telling me. That after all of that. That a bunch of Parasprites was what did it in? What fool do you take me for?"
"But it's true, I swear on my own Cutie Mark! We wouldn't be here otherwise," Twilight pleaded. Vorak then moved even closer to Twilight, towering over her.
"Prove it to me."
"Prove it? Celestia and Luna don't have their Cutie Marks right now! We don't have magic anymore -"
"SILENCE!!" Vorak roared. Twilight didn't mean to jump like that, but all hope was now dashed because of this. What was an alicorn to do?
"That isn't what I meant, I meant this claim Equestria's fallen. I have eyes to see Celestia and Luna," Vorak corrected. This was … not possible. not currently anyway. They've all been and gone from Equestria for a while now, and yet even so they didn't think they would need proof of their homeland no longer being so fruitful. And even if they did, how could they? Bring a rock, maybe? And unfortunately, the silence took too long.
"As I thought."
Was she willing to play her next card? Was it gonna work? With Vorak giving the word to send them away, she had very limited options. However, this decision actually didn't go too far, as someone else was actually just about to head into the same room.
"I'm home, sweetheart," said a much friendlier voice.
The secondary party arrived: the Gargoyle, Connie, Steven, and Starlight Glimmer. If they were any later, they'd probably be at a more troublesome time, but glad they caught them. A bit embarrassing that they were found out though.
"Steven? What're you doing here?" Twilight asked.
"We were trying to get some food for the others," Steven admitted, rubbing the back of his head. Guess his plan didn't work too well after all. Vorak took note of the newcomers straight away, in particular Steven and Connie. The Gargoyle went over to Vorak and … gave him a kiss.
"W-Whaa?" Steven gasped. THAT came from nowhere. The Gargoyle turned and smiled.
"Oh. Did I neglect to mention I'm Queen Haydon? Guess looking like a civilian could only last so long," Haydon said. Steven was at a loss of words, as they basically spent a casual afternoon with the queen of Gargoyles and never knew it!
"Maybe we should communicate a bit more clearly next time," Steven suggested blankly.
"More of you?" Vorak groaned, "A unicorn, and … what do you call this? Wingless Gargoyles?"
"They call themselves Humans," said Haydon, "They're here to find a temporary home for the Everstorm's presence."
"I know that, they just told me," Vorak replied, looking to the Alicorn princesses. Twilight glanced to the trio, Connie only able to shrug. Still, finding new species in his Midnight Palace did not waver his opinion on the matter, as he already made up his mind on it.
"And as I told them," continued Vorak, "I'm NOT allowing you to live in my kingdom."
"WHAT?! But why?" Steven gasped, just for Vorak to go right up to him.
"Because I refuse to allow refuge for the same alicorns who forcefully kept Tirek from his own home!"
It really didn't take too long until the trio got two and two together on just how much of a grudge he had against the other princesses.
"I know you and Celestia have your differences, obviously," inquired Starlight, "but isn't forbidding an entire species just because of one Centaur a bit … extreme?"
Haydon and Vorak shared looks before Haydon decided to speak.
"Tirek was more than just one Centaur. He was next in line to rule the kingdom after Vorak … and …" And Haydon held Vorak's hand while saying this. "... our son."
Well the situation went from zero to a hundred almost immediately.
"Just as well," added Vorak, "Keeping my son in Tartarus and refusing to return him back is more than enough of a reason. If you won't let him come home, then I won't let you make home here either."
"... Everypony, huddle up," Connie said. This was a bit deeper than they thought it would be, so as Haydon and Vorak discussed it to themselves, the others talked it over as well.
"Luna, why didn't you say Tirek was their son?! No wonder he's so upset at you," Steven asked, quiet but frantic.
"My apologies, I'm just as shocked as you are. We didn't know Tirek was their son either," Luna admitted.
"Well now we know what we're dealing with. But how're we going to stay here if Vorak won't let us? We have to give Tirek back," Connie concluded.
"We can't do that, the risk of him roaming Equus is too dangerous," Celestia admitted gravely, "I know it's harsh, but you all remember how dangerous he was the last time he escaped."
"Uh, minus me. what happened exactly?" Starlight asked, raising a hoof.
"Tirek escaped from Tartarus when Cerberus left his post at the Tartarus gates," explained Celestia, "He grew strong enough to drain magic from all Unicorns, Pegesi, and Earth Ponies, even us and the Crystal Gems. We were lucky he was stopped at all when he was at his peak."
"Do Vorak and Haydon know that?" Steven asked.
"Well … maybe? He said he was aware of his actions, but I don't know which time that is."
"There's another time?" Steven said, "Well, tell him then. We have to tell him so he can better understand us.
"I don't know if that will help. What if he gets mad at us for calling his son a monster? Maybe we can -"
"Twilight," Steven said, surprising Twilight a little bit. "We have to catch them up on what happened. When Pearl kept Pink Diamond a secret from everyone, they all ran away by the time they found out. and what about Starswirl the Bearded and Stygian? Starswirl didn't hear him out, and it almost doomed both Earth and Equus at once! Who's to say that can't happen here?"
"And don't forget me, Twilight," added Starlight, "I was once such a cruel pony before you helped me change and better understand everything that I thought was right. If there's anything we can do now, it's tell Vorak the truth. No hiding anything."
Twilight paused. Each mention of both those scenarios played and replayed out in her mind. To think that both of those world-changing scenarios happened just last winter too, both with the similar idea of ignorance and secrets being kept for either pride or "the greater good". Steven and Starlight had shared minds on this, both giving Twilight a similarly knowing look, both wanting to get the full story shared.
"You're both right. Thanks for reminding me," Twilight said, sharing a wing hug with Starlight and Steven. Now with more confidence, Twilight, Steven, and Starlight went back towards Vorak, who was now finished talking to Haydon.
"Oh. You're still here."
"Vorak, we want to ask you something. what happened with Tirek, the full story?" Starlight asked. Vorak wasn't so willing to talk to them, but after talking with Haydon, he was a bit calmer now. He might as well get this story straightened out best he could.
"Tirek was a young, yet troubled youth. Haydon and I sensed an urge for power in him for a long time, though we refused to believe it so. One day, him and his brother Scorpan left our kingdom. We soon began hearing reports of what Tirek and Scorpan were up to, and sometime later, we've heard word from Scorpan upon his return that Tirek was captured within Equestria over his crimes against it, trying to steal away their magic for himself so he can rule over them. We've tried to get him back onto his home turf, but Celestia and Luna refused to comply."
"But why would you want him back here?" Twilight asked.
"Because he's my son!" Vorak replied. "Without him, there isn't another line to pass down my throne to. THAT, and it's an insult on the parent that they can't discipline their own child."
"But you mentioned Scorpan. Isn't he next in line too?" Steven asked. There was some silence between Haydon and Vorak there, saddened expressions on their faces. Haydon even shedded a tear on the question.
"Oh. Sorry, I-I didn't mean to -"
"It's alright," Haydon said, wiping the tear away. "You didn't know … either way, Tirek would've learned his lesson by now. Imprisonment wouldn't of lasted this long … right?"
"About that … he escaped," Twilight revealed.
"He did?! WHERE?!" Vorak asked urgently.
"H-He's back in Tartarus again," Steven replied, "After he escaped he tried to take all magic from Equestria again. He even went onto another planet, my home, and took magic from there."
"We had to put him back into Tartarus before he could destroy everything … again."
"So he didn't learn anything in there. …" Vorak pondered. They could barely tell that his voice had disappointment in it, but not towards the ponies specifically. One would think being locked up in Tartarus would've enforced some discipline into any prisoner, but apparently that didn't happen. Heck, it might've made him even more bitter.
"I'm sorry," Steven then said. Vorak cleared his throat.
"Even so, that doesn't explain why you had to come here. There're other lands that aren't infested by Parasprites, and I still doubt all of Equestria would've been wiped out by just one swarm."
"But it did! There's nothing left for anyone there, we have nowhere else to go. Please, just until Equestria recovers, then we'll all go right back home," Steven promised.
"King Vorak, Equestria is literally nothing but dead trees and dry dirt by now," Starlight explained, "If we try going anywhere else we'll all die trying to! Look, Luna over there has the scars from a predator attacking us already, we already lost one of our ponies just getting here. If we go out and try again, we'll fall for sure. We can't leave without throwing our lives away."
A rather forceful truth, but truth nonetheless. With the Sigbin possibly still patrolling around outside in the Nether Lands, they're still at risk. Not to mention all of the other problems with surviving. Survival was the key component in their mission, and they were so close.
…
"... The unicorn's got a point. …"
"T-That actually worked!" Twilight thought.
"... How about this. There's still vegetation and water along our kingdom's northernmost border. I'll allow you to spend your days over there, just this once. But ONLY until your magic returns to Equestria, and not a moment more. Understand?"
"Well, Celestia. what do you think?" asked Cadance.
Celestia sighed.
"Have we any alternative?"
No. They didn't.
~~~~~~
Few days passed.
The herd was soon moved off from their arriving location to the northern borderline as Vorak had said to go. As Vorak did say, there was indeed vegetation and good amount of water, but honestly it wasn't as big as they expected it to be. Or maybe they did expect it, all depending. The area was pretty silent, secluded, yet a seemingly peaceful place to make out their living in. They got a river to get a drink from, and a good amount of plants to eat for the ponies' sake. It honestly didn't look too bad at all, yet not too much in the broad scheme of things. But in the end, it was all they got.
Much of the herd got comfortable in their new surroundings, knowing that it'll be a while more that they'll have to stay here. Even when they get their magic back, it'll still be a long while until they get their home completely recovered. It wasn't exactly the farmland down within the kingdoms, but it was better than being left with just dirt, sand, and rocks. At least here they had food and water, the two main essentials for any survivor.
*squeak!*
And speaking of food, Sniper had just finished with his other hunting trip off away from the herd. Even if food was food, this meant more hunting trips as Sniper had to keep his options to a minimum. Rodents and fish were the best bet for him, as it was just enough to keep his instincts from charging at some pony meat. After hunting down a few mice, Sniper went off back, catching sight of Celestia, Connie, and Luna off by the river, Luna still sore from her injuries and Celestia and Steven seemingly trying to talk to her.
"Luna, can't you try to relax a little bit? You look awful," Connie admitted at one point.
"What happens to me isn't important. What's important is that everyone else is safe," Luna said, though still tired from the soreness on her chest. The marks left by the Sigbin were too notable to ignore. Steven found this too familiar.
"It is so important! We're all important, but you're important too! I don't wanna lose another one," Connie retorted in worry. Luna found it indifferent though, and even with the wounds on her she was more willing to do this than Connie would have during her sword training days.
"Connie, you needn't worry about me."
"But I need to. Sister, you've been fighting every night by yourself. If you keep this up, you're not going to make it," Celestia then said. Luna got up to her hooves, though a little less balanced due to her injury. The cuts on her body hadn't healed as well as they were hoping.
"I'll be alright," Luna simply said. She walked passed Sniper, slowly but without giving into her injuries. Celestia and Connie both watched in worry as she left. Celestia sighed and sat down by the river, looking down into it.
"You okay, Celestia?" Connie asked.
"I'm not sure. I know it's to protect the herd, but Luna's been pushing it so hard."
"I know. Steven's been pushing himself a lot too," Connie revealed, "I haven't seen them actually rest since we got here."
And just as they were saying that, they both began to hear Steven off nearby, looking a bit tired from doing who knows what. Steven had been going all over the place: getting food for the group, keeping watch during the night, and other things to keep his mind busy until this whole ordeal would be over. Celestia immediately saw her point, and it didn't help that Steven was already busy trying to divide his gathered up apples to everyone else.
"Hey, Steven," Connie said.
"Hey, Connie," Steven yawned.
"Another long night?" Celestia figured. Steven nodded his head, his eyes closed and sleepy. He began to go off a little bit, tossing apples around as if he was throwing grain to birds or something. After finding his bucket empty, he began to go.
"Scout Steven off to find more apples," Steven said, turning around and beginning to go off on his way again. He didn't even bother to ask if they were okay still, going off to find some more food for the herd. No one was asking him to do this, but he took this on himself anyway. Connie knew well enough that this had gone on far enough, so as Steven went off out of the herd again, Connie got up and began following him.
Connie kept quiet at first, but when Steven went off over into a nearby field for some more food, Connie finally caught up to him.
"Oh, you wanna help me Connie? I think I saw some good grain growing over there," Steven said, glad to see her. But Connie was a bit more worried over Steven than any food gathering.
"Nevermind the grain, Steven, can't you try and give this a break?"
"Give what a break?" Steven asked, still walking along with Connie by his side.
"Well, everything. Steven, you've been working yourself ragged for days, you need a break before you collapse."
"No, no, I'm fine. I got no problems."
"No Steven, I think you do!" Connie suddenly snapped. This woke Steven up a bit more, surprised she would be this assertive with him so quickly. Connie recoiled a little bit.
"I … I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap like that."
"No, you're right. I've been working too hard … It's just I'm scared," Steven admitted, finally sitting down for a moment to try and regain himself. "I mean, I don't have any healing powers, I'm not as strong as I used to be, and … and …"
"I know, Steven. But, someone told me that my life is very important, and that I shouldn't take it for granted. That's the same for you too: your life is very important. We can make it for a few hours with how much you got for us, if anyone deserves a rest it's you."
Steven, while tired, realized well what she meant. WAY long ago this same message was made clear over to her by him, and yet here he was making the exact same mistake of neglecting himself for the sake of others. Steven smiled to his friend, and they both got back to their feet.
"You wanna watch the clouds with me?" Steven then asked. Connie smiled and nodded. Finally a moment for them to relax, and Steven finally getting some bit of pent-up trouble out of his system. Connie and Steven shared smiles, and began to start their way back.
*grrrr*
"Huh - AAHHH!"
Sneak attack! Out of nowhere, a swift assassin jumped into the open, charging right through Connie and Steven in a fury of teeth and claws! The lunge though wasn't as calculated as it could be, saving Connie and Steven both from serious injury, the predator skidding to a halt not too far away.
The Sigbin was back.
"Well, look who we have here," hissed Erzebet, Steven and Connie now on high alert. Even with what Connie had said, Steven put himself in between her and the Maltese Tiger.
"Leave us alone!" Steven demanded, "You killed one of the ponies! I won't let you take anyone else!"
"It's nothing personal," said the Sigbin. "when I'm hungry, I hunt. When something catches my eye, I kill it. Now we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
And Steven and Connie didn't budge, standing side by side. The Sigbin could easily tell who was the more active one out of the two, and she didn't take much time to pick out targets. Of course, she needed a way to get them split, which didn't take much time to work out, as she dug her paw into the dirt, and tossed the dust right at their eyes! Just long enough of a distraction for the Sigbin to rush around, and jump from behind, her claws making a nasty blow onto Connie, enough to throw her aside a good ten feet and making her go limp.
"Connie!" Steven gasped. He thought for sure the Sigbin would go for her, but after a few seconds Steven realized the Sigbin had a easier, and bigger target in mind, eyeing him with a savage look. Steven wanted to protect Connie, to protect everyone else, but something in his mind suddenly triggered a different response.
Run.
The hunt was on.
Steven made a mad dash across the field, away from the herd as the Sigbin raced on after him with teeth barred. It felt that whenever he would look back, the Sigbin was ever closer to him, ready to tear him open at any moment. Fear of being eaten was enough to keep Steven's energy up, even if he was exhausted, but both he and the Sigbin knew this wasn't going to last for much longer.
Steven kicked it into high gear, feeling the claws of the Sigbin on his heels as he ran from field towards the river. All Steven could do was make a quick turn, the Sigbin nearly falling into the river trying to catch him. No matter how fast he tried to run, the beast was not going to lose him. The tired boy kept running, but the Sigbin finally got close enough to actually strike him, her claw striking his foot to make him tumble over. However, this tumble was a slight lucky break: Steven fell into the river, making the Sigbin unable to see him at first until he reached the otherside. A headstart to be sure, but Steven wasn't out of the woods just yet, finding himself focusing more on the Sigbin than where he was exactly going.
One trip, and he fell head over heels into a deep ditch, too steep to just immediately climb out of. There was an exit, but the Sigbin jumped down into the ditch too, blocking his only exit. Tired, hungry, and now savage, the Sigbin began to close the gap between her and Steven, the boy only able to back up to the wall. Finally, a meal was in sight.
"STEVEN!"
Looking up, Steven and the Sigbin saw Connie was back again, rushing down the side of the wall, and slamming right onto the carnivore! This forced the Sigbin back, landing in a daze on the ground, and while Connie was hurt, they didn't have time to bother with that.
"Steven, come on!" Connie shouted, jumping to her feet and getting Steven to start moving. The Sigbin managed to come back around just in time to see Steven and Connie make a run for it through the only exit. The Sigbin got up onto her own claws fast, and charged directly at them. She was not letting her prey get away that easily.
The only exit out of this steep ditch was a narrow ravine, the Sigbin keeping very close to catching either one of them. Any of them will do at this point. Steven and Connie kept running as fast as they could, though the Sigbin was much quicker to catch up this time, using the walls of the ravine to launch at them time and again. Both kids could barely dodge the lunges, the claws only able to get stands of hair off of them. At one point though, at the end, Connie rushed through, but Steven actually stopped and turned around to face the hungry creature. His arms spread out, him as the wall, and the Sigbin did not slow down.
*BAM!*
Steven and the Sigbin crashed. Both slammed into the ground hard, and while Steven was left laying there in the dirt, the Sigbin quickly landed on her paws. Guess even in his weakened state, he still had some strength left in him. But with that crash, it still wasn't gonna be enough to keep this carnivore away from them. Connie made sure to get Steven up, and now both of them were face to face with the Sigbin. Both kids scrambled for some idea, ANY idea, to try and get away.
"THERE SHE IS! Celestia, down here!" Steven suddenly shouted. Alarmed, the Sigbin spun around, and snarled at the oncoming threat … only to find nothing there. By the time the Sigbin turned back, Steven and Connie were already gone. So much for supper. The Sigbin tried to sniff them out, but since they already went through the river at least once, she couldn't get their scent properly. She couldn't wait around here though, and in the end she turned around, and left.
Thank Celestia Steven and Connie found a hiding place. Just nearby, there was a shallow den, one just big enough for the two to go inside, and neither breathed a word, covering eachothers' mouths until they were absolutely sure the Sigbin was gone.
"Ok. I think it's gone Steven," Connie concluded after looking.
"Well," Steven said between breaths, "I'm not tired anymore. Let's get back before that Sigbin -"
*squeak* *squeak*
What was that? It was a desperate move to get into this cave, but after calming down and getting a better look inside, turned out they were not as alone as they thought they were. The cave didn't go very deep, only about three feet deep at most, soft sand and dirt lining the whole cave. But not too far in, Steven and Connie found a small nest made of dry grass. And something else. …
Pups. Four, tiny little creatures, moving about in the nest. One of the young pups was actually crawling away from the nest, calling for whoever was there in small, cute little squeaks. Connie and Steven were stunned.
"Oh my gosh," Steven gasped, "You're just babies. You can't even open your eyes yet. Poor things."
Steven kneeled down to one of them, which was no bigger than a puppy. The poor little guys couldn't be more than a week old, barely even able to move. They didn't know who was in the den with them. Taking pity, Steven gently picked one up, and gently placed it down back in the nest with the others, safe and sound. The pups whimpered and squeaked, Connie bringing her hand to gently stroke one of their heads. Then, to their surprise, the same pup actually began to suck on one of Connie's fingers.
"You can't even eat solid food yet. Steven, what do we do?" Connie asked, very concerned for the pups' safety. Steven and Connie both looked off just outside the cave, making sure the Tiger wasn't anywhere in sight. Then again, the parents of these pups weren't anywhere in sight either. Did the Tiger already get them?
"We can't leave them alone, not with that Sigbin running around," Steven decided.
…….
"Aaaaauuugh!" "Aaahhh!"
The Sigbin was far from done with its hunting. As they always say, there was more fish in the ocean. And today, it got itself a good-sized stallion of a pony. He was passed out at first, but as it neared its own home to rest, the pony was suddenly alive again, struggling blindly as the Sigbin tried to hold on. The Sigbin's sharp teeth kept him from running off on it, and it forced the pony back to the ground. Unfortunately for the Sigbin, there was still problems looming nearby.
"Steven! Connie! Where're you?!"
With the two not returning, naturally this raised some alarm from the herd. Some were sent off to try and find them, one of which who volunteered being Sadie. Last thing she wanted to see was her friends on someone's dinner plate. With the struggling from the pony in the Sigbin's mouth, the noise was just enough to catch Sadie's attention.
"Not again," the Sigbin thought. And just as it expected, Sadie immediately spurred into action, charging right for them.
"Let him go!" Sadie shouted, not stopping her run. The Sigbin readied to run, but the struggling pony was just enough to keep the Sigbin still, getting tackled off of the pony as he galloped off in a panic. Angry at another failed attempt, the Sigbin got her claw right into Sadie's face, a nice clean cut along her cheek.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" the Sigbin shouted.
"Why can't you leave us alone?!" Sadie shouted back. The Sigbin charged forward at Sadie, claws and teeth drawn, but Sadie was a larger target compared to Connie and Steven, forcing the Sigbin off of her before she began running off to gain some distance. Sadie had to think fast with what she got, grabbing a large rock from the ground and getting it right between the teeth of the Sigbin. The fangs may have missed, but its body slammed into Sadie, making them tumble downhill over eachother. The tumble lasted for a long ten seconds, before both finally crashed down to the ground in a heap. The Sigbin jumped up first, and quickly jumped onto Sadie, but they didn't realize one thing.
They landed right in front of Steven and Connie's cave!
"Sadie!" Connie and Steven shouted.
"Guys?!" Sadie gasped. Then the Sigbin turned to them. After seeing this beast as nothing but savage and cruel, the expression it gave off next actually caught them off guard: shock. Especially with where they were.
"What're you two doing?! GET OUT OF THERE!" the Sigbin demanded.
"We're not letting you hurt them!" Steven demanded, though the savage look did make them both step back, and when Connie almost got her foot in the nest -
"No! Don't hurt my children!!"
"… Your … children?"
Everything suddenly stopped. These small, innocent little creatures were the Sigbin's children? The young puppies, unaware of what was even going on, continued to call for their mother to return to them. This Sigbin, the same creature that'd been hunting them since they arrived in the Nether Lands. The one that crippled Rainbow Dash and Luna. The one that took the lives of one of their ponies. And she was the mother of these poor pups? Both Steven and Connie needed to process this, one of the little puppies actually crawling out of the nest again. The Sigbin looked terrified, any moment her child would get hurt by these creatures invading her den.
All the same, the Sigbin was still willing to kill Sadie. Connie and Steven looked to one another, now with a more serious expression. Steven nodded, and gave Connie the greenlight to continue the next action: picking up the pup in her hand, and holding it out to the mother.
"No! NO, put her down!" the Sigbin pleaded.
"Get off of our friend then. I don't want to watch my friends die anymore," Steven demanded. His morals were fighting him (he shouldn't hold a baby for ransom), but for lord sake, he wasn't gonna watch another person die on him!
"You let go of my baby first!" the Sigbin yelled.
"... Fine. But when we put her down, you let us all go home. Promise?"
The Sigbin can't risk it any further, and reluctantly nodded her head. Connie, keeping her eye on the carnivore, slowly placed the suckling baby back into the den, placing her with the rest of her siblings. Steven and Connie looked back to the Sigbin.
And the Sigbin actually kept her promise. Soon as her baby was placed down, she jumped off of Sadie, and moved right back to the nest, as Steven and Connie checked on Sadie. Aside from the cut on her cheek, she was fine, and she was just glad to see them okay. Sadie, Connie, and Steven began to go, but Steven took a look back to the mother, checking in on her children. She was grateful as well to see all her babies alright, though they were trying to suckle, only to find nothing.
"Be patient. After I hunt, I can give you milk," the Sigbin promised. She'll have to find something soon. But for now, she'll just have to wait. Steven felt his heart get tugged on watching this, and for some reason leaving the Sigbin with nothing felt … wrong.
"... Sadie? Can I ask a favor?"
~~~~~~
It was a bit funny actually, and a bit ironic, that Luna was actually feeling more skittish at night. Every foreign sound, be it a twig, a leaf, or some odd-sounding insect, her ears picked up every bit of it. The alicorn was just anticipating some form of growling, prowling, or something to just jump out of the bushes somewhere. The minutes ticked by, and yet nothing seemed to happen. She did hear a gust of wind rustle through the brush, making her skitter to her hooves, just to find nothing.
"I'd hate to think this, but morning can't come quick enough," Luna thought. It was no wonder then that most animals would be asleep at night, if most of them were like this. All riddled with predators of all sorts. Being out at night though gave her time to think for herself. Was life always like this for animals outside of Equestria? This game of cat and mouse, dodging one another all the time, hoping either to find a meal or … not become one. It wasn't exactly unheard of for ponies to be eaten be other things, but nowadays that was just some rumor, myth even. But now -
"Luna?"
Luna, still on edge, spun around to face the threat, wings open and horn at the ready. However, it was just Celestia, ready for her turn at guard duty. Celestia could tell, and figured supposedly, that Luna was on the edge of things. and who could blame her since she almost got eaten already?
"It's just you, sister."
"Yes. It's my turn to stand guard, Luna," Celestia reminded. Luna took a look over to the others still sleeping. She remembered last time she tried a few more minutes, but she was still determined.
"Please, just an hour more. It'll be fine, I promise."
"It's alright, you get some sleep," Celestia said.
"But sister -"
"LUNA." Celestia was a bit more stern this time in her tone, making sure Luna heard her. "... Get some rest. Please? For me?"
"... Ok. Be careful. I love you," Luna decided.
"I love you too," Celestia replied. There really wasn't going to be any wins for Luna tonight. So, gently gliding away from her perch, and to the group, Celestia took her post where Luna was.
There was something to be said about being in such a position. Celestia just stood there on watch through the night, keeping an eye on what residents remained of her group. Connie, Sadie, The Elements of Harmony, Sniper, and many other ponies rested, fast asleep in what vegetation had remained. Luna would take the night watches as normal, but after her latest encounter Celestia wasn't gonna take the chance with it, keeping Luna much closer to the group. Celestia wasn't as used to the night time watches as Luna was, or the guards, but the Alicorn had a duty to her people and friends, and something called "preference" wasn't going to get in the way of that.
For the next hour, it was such. Celestia took to the watch with determination, all her senses on point. Just as well, nothing much seemed to happen throughout the night, and it was pretty calm.
Yet even with all this quiet, there still was some activity going on in the herd. With everyone else fast asleep, only Steven was actually active still, wrapping up a little something for the task at hand. Looking to some cloth he got, Steven got a good amount of fish thanks to Sadie's expert spear-fishing, which easily was about fifteen fish total. Steven just got finished wrapping it up in a make-shift bag. Steven picked up the bag, and trying not to make any sound, slowly started to wander off from the herd again.
Yet this wasn't unnoticed for too long.
"Steven? Where're you going?" asked a voice. Turning around, Twilight and Fluttershy were awake again, just seeing the kid right on the border of the herd.
"Sorry, I wake you up? I'm going to find the Sigbin," Steven replied.
"Steven, the night patrol's already doing that. Really, you should rest," Fluttershy suggested, knowing how much he was doing the last couple of days.
"No, that's not what I meant."
"Well, this is a Sigbin. It's not like you can just confront it," said Twilight.
"Actually that's exactly what I was gonna do."
"What?! Are you crazy?!" Twilight gasped. Steven shushed her so no one else would wake up. It was then that Twilight noticed the fish he had with him.
"No, hear me out. The Sigbin's hungry, right? Maybe if I feed her, she won't have to come and hunt us. She'll be fed, and we'll all be safe: it's a win-win," Steven explained. It was a simple plan, but one that could go a long way. Twilight wasn't too sure about this though, trotting in front of him.
"You sure about this? It tried to eat you earlier today, right?" Twilight reminded.
"I don't care," Steven replied, "She has babies to feed, it's the least I can do. And don't call her "it", that's insulting."
"Wait … babies? The Sigbin has babies?" Fluttershy asked. Steven nodded.
"She can't feed them any milk unless she eats something, so if I give her this she can feed them too. You should've seen them; they looked so helpless. So young." Steven paused remembering the small baby Sigbin. It was not in his nature to abandon such innocent creatures, even if they were the Sigbin's young. Twilight began to ponder on it.
"So that's why she's so desperate to hunt us," Twilight realized. A good meal like a pony or young human would not only keep her well fed for a good while, but keep her pups well fed in return. It was then that Twilight, Fluttershy, and Steven looked up to the moon, which by now was full.
"Careful Steven. We almost lost you earlier, we don't plan on doing that anytime soon," said Twilight.
"I know. Me too," Steven replied.
"Please watch yourself, Steven," Fluttershy advised, "It's a full moon tonight. It'll make it harder to hunt, and the Sigbin will be very hungry."
Steven paused for a minute on that idea. Usually a full moon would be a beautiful detail for the night sky, but it did make cover hard for a predator to work with.
"That's even more of a reason to give her this then. I'll be back soon," Steven promised. He just hoped this would work out for everyone. This conversation though wasn't completely ignored though. As this was all observed from afar by Celestia herself. And Luna.
So, as Fluttershy and Twilight went off back to the herd, Steven went right off back towards the Sigbin den. Nighttime made navigation a little bit more difficult, but Steven still remembered where the Sigbin made her den: through the nearby fields, over the river, and passed the steep ditch. It was three parts to remember, and it took him only about half an hour to walk right back towards the den. He could hear the pups still inside, the tiny squeaks echoing in the night air. Steven gathered his nerves, and soon jumped down to the front of the den. But there was just one more problem.
The Sigbin was gone.
"... Oh no."
…….
*rustle*
Too bad "calm" was non-existent in the animal kingdom. It wasn't that far away, and none in the group even heard yet, but predators were out tonight. The full moon made it a little more difficult to hide at night, but this hunter was determined to get some meal. The predator was back. And a vengeance. It moved softly, quietly. Ears up, eyes locked forward, as it slowly began to move towards this herd of snacks. It seen them before. It knows what they taste like. And this time, it wasn't leaving until it had one pony locked on its teeth.
Licking its muzzle, it stalked ever closer to the sleeping group, barely making a sound. Its nostrils flared up, sniffing the scent of numerous warm bodies. It knew better than to just charge into the herd though, and, step by step, each paw touching the ground as light as the feathers on pegasi, began to slowly make a target out of one of the prey. It had quite a selection: Earth ponies with their tough muscles, Unicorns soft and tender, and Pegesi with crispy wings. … Then came the only humans. The Sigbin stopped once it spotted them. No fur, no wings to fly away, no horn to stab it with. No protection.
PERFECT. The Sigbin was still quite far away when it spotted them, but one good dash and they'll be all its own. As the Sigbin got ready to charge though, one ear twitched, and stood up. Something was coming.
*BAM!*
Out of nowhere, with what power Celestia had in her wings, the Alicorn slammed right into the Sigbin, sending them both skidding off away from the herd. It was a brutal hit, but lucky for the Sigbin it was with her hooves, and not her horn. The Sigbin growled menacingly towards Celestia, the Alicorn spreading her wings in threat. That made the Sigbin snarl, enough to send the Sigbin into an attack, charging at Celestia. The Alicorn jumped above the savage Sigbin, and Celestia rushed away from the herd. The Sigbin was quick to follow. This ruckus wasn't enough to wake the majority of the herd, but it did wake up Luna. and what did Luna end up seeing upon waking up?
Celestia and the Sigbin running right off through the plains. Celestia galloped as fast as she could, but the Sigbin was close behind. She could easily rush off, but Celestia's plan wasn't to get away, it was to lure the Sigbin. And so far it was working. The Sigbin though was dead set on its own idea, and got its teeth and claws inches from Celestia's hide numerous times, Celestia bolting just out of reach. It would seem she would be alright, Celestia facing the Sigbin, hovering time and again to keep the high ground on the hunter. However, focused on the predator, Celestia wasn't watching where she was landing.
And her hoof landed right on top of a hard stone, making her hoof crack. It was just the distraction the Sigbin needed …
*SLICE*
Celestia screamed, and tumbled head over hooves for a bit before finally finding her stance, only to find she was not whole. Her wing was crushed, her back hoof limping. and her horn sliced clean off. She was out of breath, out of luck, and out of options. And once more, that scream she made alerted much of the herd, everyone now awake, and seeing the horror for themselves.
"Celestia!" gasped Luna, starting to rush right for her. However, Celestia and the Sigbin were very far away, even when flying, and in Luna's own weakened state she wasn't going too fast.
Celestia limped away as best she could, moving further away from the snarling animal. The sting on her wings, head, and hoof were too much to bare, and with her already damaged wing, she was not going to fly away anytime soon, and with the starving Sigbin not too far away, and the herd VERY far away. Celestia's fate was sealed. Looking to the Sigbin however, there was something else behind that eye of hers. Any normal attacker would have glee for seeing her in pain, or triumph to find the princess falling from grace, or perhaps satisfaction from defeating an old enemy. But the eldest Alicorn took a closer look to the eye of this Sigbin, and saw one emotion rarely seen in any of Celestia's previous enemies.
Desperation. She was starving. And so were her children.
"WAIT! STOP!"
Off into the distance, another voice. This time coming from Steven farther off, running as fast as he could to catch up to the Sigbin and Celestia. Seeing Steven reminded Celestia what he said before.
"You're a mother too, aren't you?"
The Sigbin stopped for a brief moment. Celestia only needed to see that brief moment of hesitation to understand. The Sigbin had to hunt. She had to. Celestia considered her options, what little she had left. The others weren't going to make it in time, no matter the case, and the Sigbin had the time needed to do what she wanted. That, and seeing the broken horn, and broken wing … she made her choice.
"Then you can have me. … Your babies mustn't starve."
Celestia stood there, waiting for the Sigbin to come over. Never in her life did the Sigbin have any prey that offered itself to her. After the hesitation, the Sigbin slowly regained speed, rushing right for Celestia.
"... Goodbye."
Celestia turned and ran as fast as she could manage, getting just enough speed to take off again. The Sigbin chased after her, gaining up on her very quickly. Celestia just managed to turn around, swinging her back hoof, only for the Sigbin to bite down hard onto it, sucking out what strength Celestia had left. Flap. Flap. Flap she did with her wings, struggling to stay in the air with the weight of the Sigbin pulling her downward. Celestia strained, her eyes up to the sky above her, seeing Luna's moon. Her sister. She would have to continue on without her, just like how Celestia did without Luna.
With a final gasp, Celestia fell.
"CELESTIA!" screamed Twilight.
The fight was barely a struggle.
And soon, there was silence. By the time Steven, Luna, and much of the others got there, they barely found much. The Sigbin, hearing the herd coming, was already out of sight before any of them could get there. As there Celestia laid. The grand ruler of all Equestria, finally meeting her end here, just outside of the borders of the Midnight Palace. The life, and reign, of the princess of the sun was over.
They all were silent, not a single word said or spoken between eachother as they took it all in. This wasn't any nightmare. This was as real as it could possibly get. Luna quietly walked over to her sister, laying down beside her, and gently rested her head on her chest, tears flowing down. Tears were also shared amongst all of the others, freely flowing as they all observed the terrible fate befalling onto their beloved princess. The one that made all of Equestria possible.
"... The Sigbin did this," confirmed Luna.
"C-Celestia," murmured Twilight. The alicorn just stared at the body of her former mentor. The alicorn had ruled over Equestria for so many years, so many sunrises to present Celestia's presenting light onto the entire world. She felt someone grip her leg, only to find Spike right next to her, tears from his eyes as well. Twilight hugged her young dragon, the tears unable to be stopped. As most of them were noting the fallen alicorn, it was Discord (who was at his breaking point), who turned and saw something hidden just out of sight.
The Sigbin.
"YOU," Discord growled. The Sigbin barely hid all that much, actually in pain herself from the fall as seen by her straining back leg. She was still growling, but shivering, and looked hurt and … confused. It didn't take long at all for everyone else to see the Sigbin, though while many were upset, some were a bit beside themselves. Yes, she did hunt and kill Celestia. But then again, what choice did she have?
"FOR CELESTIA!" Rainbow roared, ready to charge right at the Sigbin. She so wanted to tear the Sigbin to pieces for killing Celestia, and while she was ready, she suddenly found someone grabbing hold of her tail. And no, it wasn't Applejack this time. It was Steven. Rainbow forced him to let go.
"Steven, what're you doing?! That Sigbin killed Celestia!" Rainbow snapped. What was he doing? Steven didn't know how to answer the question at first. They all had every right to be angry at the Sigbin for doing this, every right to be mad at the Sigbin for killing Celestia. In a way, Steven was too. But knowing this was for the sake of her own family, he could only come up with one thing to say. …
"Please. … I don't want death anymore. …"
No more death. That really was the whole reason was it? The reason he was protecting them so much, the reason he helped the Sigbin's children, and for that matter why he left with those fish in the first place for her. To stop this from happening. Rainbow actually did stop herself, looking between the Sigbin and the fallen princess, but that didn't quench her anger much at all. The Sigbin didn't dare to come any closer to them, though even she wasn't sure how to handle this particular kill.
But Luna knew what to do.
Without a word, Luna took off Celestia's crown, bringing it over to the others … and began dragging the body towards the Sigbin. Luna placed it down in front of the Sigbin, even the predator actually having a tear down her own face. Luna looked the Sigbin in the eye, but Luna couldn't bring herself to say anything to her, and after that, Luna turned around, walked a foot away, and sat down. As for the Sigbin, she reached down, and lifted Celestia up by the neck, slowly turning around and dragging her meal home.
The starving mother got her prize after all.
~~~~~~
The next morning was a bittersweet one. Everyone there felt as such, and some were hoping that everything that happened last night was nothing more than just some sick dream they had. But the absence of their sun princess was the hardest thing to ignore, yet the hardest to accept. It was hard to say that the princess had died, after so many hardships. Naturally, some took this loss harder than others. Especially those closer to her.
Even with the sun already good up there, Twilight refused to get up, just laying on the ground. Seeing the sun above her head was enough for her already to remind herself of the princess she just lost. The others off nearby were also sad about this, but at least were still standing, watching on and wondering how to approach her, if they even should.
"... Reckon it's time we talk to Twilight?" Applejack asked.
"I'm not sure," replied Connie. What were they supposed to exactly tell her? It took a little bit, but eventually there was someone who did actually go towards her after a while.
"Hey Twilight, it … it's gonna be okay. We'll figure it out," Spike said humbly.
"There's nothing to figure out, Spike," said Twilight. "Celestia's gone … for good. … And there's no way of getting her back. … It … It's not fare. Why did she have to go, and leave us here? … What'll we do without her? ..."
"Move on."
The group turned towards Sniper, who while silent, had overheard everything. Unlike practically everyone else in this herd, Sniper was the only one not truly crying over Celestia's death. He felt sorry for them yes, but it didn't touch him as deep.
"But how? … Celestia has done so much for me. For all of us. … And Equestria needs her."
"Twilight, come on. Chin up," Sniper said, helping Twilight back up onto her own hooves. Twilight still wanted to just lay back down, and not get up until this dream ended, but Sniper wasn't letting her.
"Sniper, let me lay down. I'm trying to wake up."
*chomp*
"YOW!" Not tired anymore, as one bite from Sniper to the wing made Twilight up and atom right away. Pinching her out of this dream was out of the question.
"There's a nicer way to do that," said Connie.
"I know. Where's Steven?"
All Connie had to do was point off away from the herd, to lonesome Steven sitting on a rock. He hadn't spoke a word since last night. One could argue he might be feeling just as bad as Twilight or Luna about losing Celestia, as he didn't say a word since waking up. He didn't even eat anything (not that many of them were in the mood anyway).
"You want me?" Steven asked.
"Well sort of. … Twilight, have a seat. I want to tell you something," Sniper said. Twilight, not feeling too much better, just went over and sat down. The Mane Six, Spike, Sadie, and Connie went over to do the same.
"What is it?" Fluttershy asked.
"... Guys. You really surprised me last night," Sniper began, sitting down as he looked to the morning sun. "When I woke up, and saw everyone scamper off after the Sigbin like that, I thought for sure it would end in vengence and nothing else. … But instead of taking revenge on her, you all let her go. … It was very noble of all of you."
"Noble?"
"From what I heard, that Sigbin was a mother. She was only doing what she had to, to survive." Sniper paused and turned back to them. "But … you all already knew that, I suppose. Letting the Sigbin take her."
"Why her? … It would be better if -"
"DON'T. FINISH. THAT."
So Steven didn't.
"It's not your fault. Nor is it Twilight's fault. It's not Celestia's fault either. It's nobody's fault. This is just how nature is."
"What do you mean?"
Sniper sighed.
"Everyone. … Sorry for being cruel for saying this, but, there is no good or bad out here. So many of the ideas you take and hold true don't hold true out here. The Elements of Harmony, the status as a princess, and your impact on history mean very little too. If you all did kill that Sigbin over the death of Celestia, What would you end up with?"
"... Another body, I suppose," concluded Twilight.
"Exactly. You might have your reasons to try and get even, but there's no point really. Besides, if that Sigbin hadn't caught anyone that night, then her cubs wouldn't have anything to eat now would they? I know you wouldn't want your children to go hungry, right?"
"I guess so. We're all a family, and we take care of eachother. She was just trying to take care of her family," Steven sighed.
"Nothing gets by you, does it? I'm glad you understand."
"Talked to them too?"
A good time for the conversation to be finished, as Luna herself began to come over to them.
"Oh. Morning, princess. Just finished," Sniper replied, starting to walk towards her. This speech of his had met with more ears than just the Elements of Harmony. Luna was glad to hear it.
"So what now?"
"I've sent off a few of our pegesi to spread the word. It would be best to not waste time in relaying this message to Equestria. … Meanwhile. We just got to wait until we can use magic again," Luna concluded. It really wasn't anything too special to do, but the fall of the princess was too big to just ignore, and they had to spread this word around as much as they could to prepare Equestria for the future ahead. Just as Celestia did when allowing the Sun and Moon to move on their own. And when she gave herself up to the Sigbin as well.
It was impossible to say how Equestria was doing while they were gone, but they could only wait there before moving on.
"Alright then. … Well, we won't get anything done just sitting here. Come on, let's go foraging," Applejack decided, being the first to start going. Little by little, the others went off to follow her, though Steven did take his time. He tried his hardest to prevent something like this from happening, but the situation was just too complicated to pinpoint any blame on anyone. Can he really blame the Sigbin for trying to feed her family? Should he blame her?
"Steven, come on!" called Rainbow.
"Sorry, coming," Steven replied. And he soon joined them for another foraging into the Nether Lands.